The Hinata Chronicles
by NeoKenshin
Summary: "Game Over? What does that mean?" What does it mean when a lavender eyed princess learns her life really was just a game. Does she have what it takes to beat the game again? And just how will she play it this time? Hinata decided to Press Start and find out what the future holds! T rating for now, may change to M depending on how it goes.
1. Chapter 1

Time for an all new adventure with an interesting twist. I've seen a lot of Naruto: The Videogame type stories out there and mind you some are pretty good, but how come none ever feature our beloved heroine Hinata? What if she was the one that found out the truth? How do you think she'd handle it? Well...only one way to find out! New Game...START!

* * *

Chapter 1: New Game START!

"Game over?" Hinata looked around and only saw nothing but two strange words floating in the air. "What is this?" She scanned the area, trying to get her bearings for where she was. The only thing she saw was white. There were no trees, no mountains, no sky, nothing. Not even any other people were around to talk to. "All I remember is fighting Madara until he cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi and that tree root started wrapping around me."

Hinata resigned herself to realize one of two things. She was either dead or she was stuck somewhere she really shouldn't be. All she knew was that she was alone. Figuring she should take a little bit of time to assess the situation, she took a deep breath and sat down to meditate. "I figure Naruto-kun might do this…or might not. Right now I really wish he was here. Holding his hand after Neji died felt so comforting."

With one more sigh she took another look around, this time with her Byakugan activated…well….

"What's wrong with my Byakugan? Why can't I activate it?" Hinata began to feel even more worried now. She tried her best to keep calm but something didn't feel right. That's when she noticed things getting brighter…and brighter…and hotter for some reason. She covered her eyes as best she could until she felt herself being pulled…and it was a strong pull indeed!

* * *

"Ok move fast guys. At least get her something to wear." Hinata had no clue what was going on. All she knew was that she was somehow still alive, but where. Oh and for some reason she couldn't feel her clothes on her. That was when she started feeling people grab a hold of her and heard someone speak in her ears. "Don't open your eyes right now. They need time to adjust since you just had a large dose of light exposure. Also don't worry, these are females helping you into something more comfortable." The voice was obviously male as Hinata soon felt herself wearing some sweatpants, a short sleeve shirt, and some socks. She also felt someone place a shade over her eyes and slowly guide her to a chair. "Alright Hinata, can you hear what I'm saying? Just nod or say yes." Having no clue what was going on, Hinata nodded her head in agreement. "Ok good. I'm going to take the blinder off now and I want you to open your eyes slowly. On three…one…two…three." Hinata felt the blinder taken off her face and slowly opened her eyes. She soon saw the world coming back into focus, noticing she was no longer in a completely white area. The first thing she saw when her vision finally cleared was that she was around people again.

"Where…am I?" She checked her surroundings and noticed that there were lots of computers and what looked like some strange telescope device. Checking some of the people she saw a strange man come toward her. He didn't look like any shinobi she knew and was definitely dressed differently.

"Would you believe that you're dead and you could probably consider this the afterlife?" The man spoke to her. It was the same person who told her that she was being helped into some clothes. "Well I figure you probably don't know what to believe, especially what just happened to you in the last hour or so." He handed her a warm cup. "Here, it's green tea. It helps." He took one himself and went to a computer console. "I guess the first thing is to fill you in on what's going on."

"That would help." Hinata slowly took a sip of her tea, noting it tasted exactly like her favorite kind at home. "What is all this?"

"Well…it's essentially where you were created." The man told her as he took his glasses off. "And I guess I'm who you call Kami or God or whatever. I also go by Neokenshin but all my friends call me Kenny so you can call me that too." Kenny as he was now called put his tea down and helped Hinata to her feet. "This place as you call it is NK Studios where we produce video games."

"Video…games?" Hinata wasn't sure what that was. "What are those?"

"Well, they're games that people play for enjoyment. Unlike board games like Shogi and Go, video games are played on your TV." Kenny replied as the two walked around. "The game we've been working on for the past few years has been a big one. It's something that we really never thought could happen."

Hinata was still confused more than ever and knew she needed to find out more information. "I still don't understand."

Kenny knew she was lost and figured the best way was to just get it out in the open. "Hinata, what if I told you that your entire life was nothing but a video game and you've been pulled into the world of the people that created it?" Hinata froze in place. Her life was a game that people play? But how? "What if I also told you that the world you live in was originally designed to be a self-evolving game to help progress the development of artificial intelligence?"

Hinata stood with her mouth wide open, flabbergasted at what she just heard. She was artificial? But everything she knew was so real! "I…but…how?"

"Why don't I show you." Kenny took her and sat her in front of a console with a large screen. After entering a few commands, the screen now displayed some words.

"Naruto: The Hinata Chronicles. Press Start." Hinata read as Kenny followed the directions and pressed start. The screen now changed to more text scrolling across the screen as Hinata began to read. "I once knew of a legendary shinobi. He was a hero to so many people. To me, well he was so much more. He was funny, brave, kind, and even cute. He was also somewhat dimwitted and really didn't get things but that's who he was. His name was Naruto. He had the worst life in the world. People didn't like him, he struggled in school, but there was always something about him that inspired me. Maybe it was his smile, his courage, or his nindo…To never run away and to never go back on your word. That meant so much to me. I always wondered if I could show him just how much it changed me. I guess this is my chance…my story to tell…"

The screen changed to show what looked like a 3 year old Hinata, a 12 year old Hinata, and her current 16 year old self. The words on the screen said "Choose your story." As Kenny pressed some buttons, each Hinata lit up so she decided to read the descriptions. "3 Year old Hinata. Start your story at the beginning and see how things can change. Starting stats: Beginner level" He then moved to the middle character, "Genin Hinata. Graduation is over so now it's time to handle the main story. Starting stats: Intermediate level". Finally she was shown the third character, "Chuunin Hinata. Three years have passed since becoming a Genin. You're well on your way to forging your destiny. The Great War lies ahead. Starting stats: Advanced level." Hinata looked at Kenny, wondering what all of this was. "I don't understand. My life was just a game?"

"Oh you bet it was! And somehow you were really kicking ass in it too!" one of Kenny's assistants called out. "Dude check out the stats of her last play through!"

Kenny and Hinata walked over to the assistance who was checking the stats. "So what do we have here?" Kenny asked as he looked at the final stats.

"Let's just say it was pro dude." His assistant moved aside to let the two see. The stats read as follows…

* * *

**The Hinata Chronicles: Final Score**

**Survived Kumo abduction: 500**

**Saved by Naruto Uzumaki: 500**

**Showed kindness toward Naruto: 800**

**Never defeated Hanabi in combat due to holding back: 1000**

**Completing Genin Exam: 1500**

**Naruto decides not to cheat off you: 800**

**Survive Forest of Death: 1000**

**Feel inspired by Naruto to fight Neji harder: 1000**

**Boost Naruto's confidence before his match with Neji: 600**

**Not participate in Battle for Konoha 1: -300**

**Don't visit Naruto in hospital after Sasuke Retrieval Mission: -500**

**Avoid Naruto seeing you naked in moonlight: 500**

**Create Protective Eight Trigrams 64 Palms: 2000**

**Naruto compliments you on completing Protective Eight Trigrams: 500**

**Don't say goodbye to Naruto when he leaves on his training journey: -400**

**Become Chuunin: 2000**

**Faint when Naruto meets up with you again: -600**

**Participate in Three Tails sealing before reaching Med-nin status: 800**

**Don't comfort Naruto after Jiraiya's death: -700**

**Finally confess your true feelings of love to Naruto: 3000**

**Fight a losing battle against Pein to save Naruto: 1000**

**Survive Pein's attack: 400**

**Receive Naruto's praise when he returns to the 4****th**** war battlefield: 400**

**Become powered up by Naruto's chakra: 500**

**Finally perform the Eight Trigrams 64 Palms: 700**

**Become super powered and use the Tailed Beast Rasengan with Naruto: 900**

**Allow Kurama to be ripped from Naruto: -2000**

**Fail to reach Naruto to try and keep him alive: -700**

**Allow Madara to use Infinite Tsukuyomi: -1000**

**Fall victim to the Infinite Tsukuyomi: -2000**

**Receive Hiashi's recognition: 1000**

**Gain 20 percent of all collectables: 200**

**Reach Final Battle using one skill tree: 400**

**Reach Final Battle without recruiting companions: 300**

**Reach Final Battle without using Ultimate equipment: 700**

**Ridonkulous Ninja Mode Difficulty: Score x 10**

**Final Score: 148,000**

**Rating: WOW! Either you had the strategy guide the whole time or you're seriously a pro, especially since you played on Ridonkulous Ninja Mode! Great job!**

**Unlocks**

**Sound Test**

**Video Library**

**Ultimate Gear hints**

**Increased Inventory**

**Increased Experience/Money mode**

**Double Damage Mode**

**Do you want to save?**

* * *

"Yes we're going to save that." Kenny said, initiating the game save. "Unbelievable. You did all of that? Well I can definitely say the game has improved a lot more than we expected."

"It sure has chief! Plus we had gear stats, costume mode, secret abilities, skill builds, and Ultimate Gear all disabled as well. She did all of this on her own!" Kenny's assistant chimed in. "It's a shame we don't have the game fully finished. I would have loved to see what she does in the final battle."

"Final battle? But I thought that's where I was?" Hinata questioned his remark. "And what do you mean by not finished?"

"See, this is what we use to build your world. We're working with the creator of Naruto in order to build this game." Kenny pulled off a book from the shelves. "We may have created you in the game, but you were really created by Masashi Kishimoto."

"I…this…" Hinata began shaking in utter fear. "This can't be real at all!"

"It is." Kenny took the book back and led Hinata to another console. "See right now we're right up to the part where you get caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Technically you beat the game since we don't even know what Kishi's gonna do next. Until we get more material from him, we're stuck."

"All of my family, my friends, Naruto-kun…all of them are just fake." Hinata could barely swallow at the rush of information she got. "Even I'm not real."

"See that's where you're wrong." Kenny pulled up a screen on another console that had what looked like a massive hierarchy map. "Every choice you made in the game wasn't programmed by us. It was your AI that made every single choice. All we did was program you to be as real as possible."

Hinata did her best to try and take in the information but she was still in shock. "So…what do I do now? I mean I'm not even supposed to be in this world."

Kenny looked at her and just smiled. "What if you could go back and relive your life differently? We had a lot of things disabled so we didn't see how they played out. But what if you decided you wanted to learn medical skills or maybe even get a chance to learn the Rasengan with Naruto. Or what if you were finally able to make it so that Naruto fully acknowledged you and you could start a relationship with him…or with any other character?" Kenny then took a book off the console and put it in Hinata's hands. "What if you could even make it so your mother never died? Or maybe you could save Neji from dying in the 4th Great War? Better yet….what if you were the one that beat him in the Chuunin Preliminaries?"

Hinata couldn't believe what she heard. She could really go back and make that much of a difference? She would have so much power to change things in her hands. Could she really do it? "I could do all of that?"

"Yes you can. In addition, we can set you to start wherever you want in your life. If you want to start at the very beginning, we can do that. We can even make programming changes as well. We can even create missions and quests that don't normally occur in the story line." Kenny explained as he got his tea mug. "We could even make a quest for you to try and find the identity of Naruto's parents and have the reward be his Ultimate Gear. Plus that little book I gave you will help you."

Hinata looked at the book and saw the title of the game. Opening it she saw what looked like core fundamentals of the game and how things like stats and armor work. Turning further she saw the listing of characters, including herself. It gave a rundown of every skill she could learn, even hidden skills and secret skills she could learn. "Wait, I really can learn the Rasengan, or learn Lady Tsunade's Super Strength? I can even learn the Water Dragon jutsu?"

"If you plan your skill build accordingly. As you can see, you have a path that branches. It shows pre-requisite skills needed to learn new ones. Each skill can gain 5 levels for more power and effectiveness. In addition, skills that aren't attached to the tree are ones that can be learned upon completing a mission quest or by fulfilling special conditions." Kenny began to explain as he pointed things out. "Also you'll notice you have what's called a Secret Ability. This is something that only you will have. Each character has their own. These abilities add a unique twist to gameplay and some abilities may have boosts when you're paired with other characters."

"What's this Ultimate Gear?" Hinata asked. She noticed a picture of Naruto's headband with the description "Naruto's Headband". "Is this something for everyone?"

"No the Ultimate Gear is a piece of equipment that is unique to each single character. It's something that can really change the tide of the game. When you have your Ultimate Gear, you get a significant boost to certain stats, and you're rewarded with certain abilities. Sometimes having an Ultimate Gear before a boss battle can present different options." Kenny explained as he turned the page to Naruto's bio. "Like see this with Naruto's gear, Kushina's Headband and Minato's cloak gives Naruto a major boost to his Rasengan power, gives him a few stat boosts, and as you can see, it says 'Special ability unlocked during Power Struggle battle'."

"I guess I should try to find those as quickly as possible." Hinata figured she may start planning ahead for what's to come.

Kenny nodded negatively, "I wouldn't do that just yet. They're not called Ultimate Gear for nothing. It takes a lot to get those items and the quests are not easy. Also for some Ultimate Gear, you may need to find another Gear first."

Hinata thought about this and realized it would be something good to try, but not focus all her attention to it. "Ok I think I get it. But something confused me? What are affection bonuses?"

Kenny chuckled slightly before turning the pages in the book to the inventory section. Hinata looked closely and noticed that the title said 'Hinata's Underwear'. "Well Hinata, affection bonuses are how much a person is interested in you. Someone with a low affection level may not want to become a companion and you may not be able to recruit them. On the other end, someone with a high affection level sees you as a close friend and will join your team instantly. Also you get slight bonuses for having high affection with other characters. It's also a requirement to have a character fall in love with you. To give you a bit of a bonus on affection, your clothes and underwear have hidden stats based on something other characters like. See here?" Kenny pointed to an orange bra and panty set, "The orange set of course makes it slightly easier to raise Naruto's affection because his favorite color is orange. But don't worry about having to show off in your underwear. It always stays hidden under your clothes unless you unequip yourself. In addition, swimsuits will give a similar effect when you're at beach areas. There's a lot to choose from depending on who you want to boost your affection with."

Hinata took this in and realized that depending on what she does…she may not…"So you're saying I have a chance not only to fall in love with Naruto, but with anyone else? Even other girls?"

Kenny nodded, "Even other girls. But there's a benefit. Once you fall in love with someone, you get various bonuses depending on who it is. Say for instance you ended up falling in love with Tenten. You would receive a boost to all of your ranged weapon skills and a bonus to gear enchantment as well. It all depends on how you want to play things out."

Hinata didn't say anything as she flipped through the book and took everything in. Just an hour ago she was on the battlefield fighting for her life and now here she was in a strange world with a person who supposedly created her. And she learned her life was just a game above all things. While she was taking all of this in, she noticed lots of boxes being placed by the telescope device. A beam came out and soon everything started fading away until it was gone. "What was that?"

"That is our Digitizer. It's how we get new things into the game. We just uploaded the Ultimate Gear and Costume data. It's also how you ended up here. But we don't know why it brought you here and nuked your clothes." Kenny replied. "It's also the way we'll send you back."

"I see. So what do I do now?" Hinata looked to see what was left for her to do.

"Easy. Just press start and begin again. This time make the world your own. You can change your own destiny." Kenny said with a smile. "The sky is the limit."

Hinata kept the book in her hands and stood up, breathing deeply. "I guess I should be lucky, getting to see my creator. Will I ever get to hear from you again?"

Kenny led Hinata back to the Digitizer where she would be sent back into her world, "Maybe. Never know what changes we'll make. But you just have to get back to the end to see them. Everything else is done for now. But I do have some information for you before you go back."

Hinata knew it would be important so she made sure to listen well. "Okay."

"First, only you will know about everything being a game unless you tell those you recruit. Otherwise people will think you're kind of crazy. Second, the guidebook will change once you get back in the game so it doesn't spoil everything for you. You'll still have the basics guide, the character list, and the equipment list, but nothing else. You'll have to find quests and missions on your own." Kenny explained carefully. "Third, save and save often. You may never know when you'll run into a battle you can't escape from and you can't win. If you die, you'll be sent back to your last checkpoint or save and if you feel like you might be risking a lot, then you probably are. Trust me, losing a lot of gameplay because of a stupid mistake isn't fun. Fourth, every time you die, you and your party members will remember everything that has happened even after you reload a save. That means if you lose a battle, you can redo it with better knowledge of how to win it."

"Alright, I'll remember that." Hinata said, clutching the book she got tightly. She looked up and noticed that the Digitizer was powering up, ready to send her back.

"Finally, once we send you in, you won't remember being here or meeting us. If we contact you, it will be like it was the first time. The only thing you'll remember is that you know about your life being a video game, and that you have the guide book. Also that guide book will become bound to you, so you won't have to worry about losing it."

Hinata nodded in thanks. "Thank you for giving me another chance. But I just have one thing to ask."

"What is it?" Kenny asked.

"The quest about discovering Naruto's Parents…can you please make that real? I want to be able to tell him who his parents are, or at least be able to show them to him." Hinata asked just as the Digitizer reached full power.

"Actually, that quest was already activated. We figured you would want to do that. Well Hinata, good luck and enjoy the game!" Kenny said with a smile.

"Thank you!" Hinata said as the Digitizer went active, engulfing her in a bright light. Within seconds she no longer was in the studio, but now in a white room with a menu in words before her.

* * *

"I guess I'm back at the start of the game." She looked at the menu and saw what options are available.

**New Game**

**Load Game**

**Options**

**Extras**

"Hmm I guess I better go with Options first. So I can see what I have open to me." Hinata touched the word Options and a new menu appeared.

**Difficulty: Ridonkulous Ninja Mode!**

**Notifications: Off**

**Auto Leveling: On**

**Ultimate Gear: Off**

**Costume Mode: Off**

**Hints: Off**

"Hmm, well I don't think I want to do this Ridonkulous Ninja Mode. That sounds like it's at maximum difficulty. Also I think I want to choose how I level up. Plus I think Costume Mode might be kind of fun too." Hinata looked over all of the options and knew she wanted changes. After she was done she was quite pleased.

**Difficulty: Normal**

**Notifications: On**

**Auto Leveling: Off**

**Ultimate Gear: On**

**Costume Mode: On**

**Hints: On**

Backing out of options, she went to Extras to see what was available.

**Sound Test**

**Video Library**

**Ultimate Gear Hints**

**Increased Inventory: Off**

**Increased Experience/Money: Off**

**Double Damage: Off**

Hinata thought to herself what might be good. She figured checking the Ultimate Gear Hints would be worth it, but she decided against it. "Naruto-kun would want to challenge himself for something like that, so I'm going to do it too. However being able to carry more things is always handy so I'll turn that on."

Hinata finalized her options and backed out to the main menu. Seeing nothing else to do, she pressed New Game and was taken to where a story of text played out. After watching the opening, she was taken to the character select screen where she saw herself in three places. "Ok, where do I want to start? If I start at 3 years old, it will take me a long time before I can start using my ninja skills or even get to do anything, but I don't want to rush all the way to the end. I wish there was a way I could start midway and make changes to the early game."

She pressed her 12 year old self and saw that a few more options pulled up.

**Past events that can be changed-caution will change gameplay from the standard deviation.**

Hinata went through all of the various events that happened and saw one in particular…"The death of Hikari Hyuuga…the day mom died…" She touched the picture and was prompted,

**The option to let Hikari die was chosen as default. Do you wish to change this event?**

Hinata thought long and hard and realized that a lot of things could change if her mother were still alive. All she could do was see that day over and over…holding on to her mother's hand as she faded away. Hinata decided she wasn't going to keep that memory. Touching the picture again she noticed the text change.

**The option to let Hikari live is chosen. Gameplay will now be set accordingly.**

"I guess that's it." Hinata took a slow breath and backed up to the selection menu. She had one final choice to make.

**Do you want to start at Genin Hinata's story? You will start just after completing the Ninja Academy. Your character will start at lvl 15. Do you wish to begin? Yes? No?**

Hinata knew this was it, no going back. "Time to write my own story!" She pressed Yes and felt herself being pulled back into the place she called her world.

* * *

**New Game...START! How will our blue haired princess handle a world where she has more control than she knows! How will things change now that her mother is alive and well? And how will her life turn out this time? Will she be stronger than ever? Gotta play the game to find out! Can't give spoilers out now, can I?**


	2. Chapter 2

Time to get the game rolling! How will Hinata in her new story? Hope she makes the right choices! And really...we all know the disclaimers so...yeah let's just get to the story.

* * *

Chapter 2: Party up!

Opening her eyes, Hinata realized she was now back in her bedroom at home and now back in her pajamas. She turned to look at her mirror and saw she was now 12 years old again.

"Hmm, I guess I miss my hair long. I should stop getting it cut now and let it grow back out." She frowned at seeing her hair cut short as it was. "Maybe I should also go back to my purple outfit. It seemed more comfortable than this coat. Speaking of which…"

Hinata looked around for anything that might help her out. She did see there was a white glowing circle by her bed. Piqued by interest she walked over to it and when she stepped on it, she heard a chime. That's when she noticed a message appear on a bracelet around her wrist.

**You've found a save point. Use these to save your progress during the game. You can also rest to restore your HP and Chakra. Save points are located in a character's bedroom, inn rooms, or in various places in town. You can also save your game when in the field, but you won't be able to rest unless you find a campsite. To save, access your menu and choose the option of Save in the Systems menu.**

Hinata wondered first how she had the bracelet, but figured it was part of the game itself. She closed the message box and opened the book she had in her hand. "Ok, how do I access the menu?" She turned to the early pages and found out that she simply had tap her bracelet while concentrating on the menu. Doing so, she opened her menu and figured it would be a good time as ever to start learning about what she could do. (**A/N I plan to do a guide to go along with this story, fully explaining each character's skills so I can try to add more story instead of explanations here. However if a character learns a Secret Skill like Hinata learning Rasengan, I'll do an explanation of the skill right after they get it.)**

**Menu Options**

**Skills**

**Equipment**

**Items**

**Stats**

**Quest Log**

**Teammates**

**System**

Hinata chose the first option and saw a listing of her skills. She noticed there was 15 skill points available for her to allocate skills. She saw that some skills were grayed out, probably due to not being able to be accessed yet. She had two different trees, one titled Gentle Style and the other titled Medic Boost. Checking over her skills she saw she had 7 skills for each tree.

"Ok let's see what I can learn. For Gentle Style I can learn Eight Trigrams 64 Palms, Rotation, Eight Trigrams Air Palm, Gentle Step Style, Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher, Byakugan Boost, and Twin Lion Fist." Hinata looked at each skill carefully. "I already have two points in 64 Palms and Rotation, but why do I already have Gentle Step unlocked? I didn't start learning that until I was a Chuunin?" Hinata decided to get more info, so she opened her guidebook and checked her skills. "I'm supposed to have three skill trees. Why does it say Elemental style? Does this mean it has something to do with my chakra element?"

She scratched her forehead and went back to her skill trees. "Alright for Medic Boost I have Medicine Potency, Mystic Palm, Pressure Point Boost, Pressure Point Disable, Chakra Recovery, Heal Booster, and Life Stream. Right now I have two points in Medicine Potency and one in Pressure Point Boost. I'm guessing that's what helped me make my healing creams." Taking her time she thought about things carefully. "I think I want more healing skills this time and I have 15 points, so here we go. I have to be Chuunin Rank to unlock Mountain Crusher and Air Palm, and I need Air Palm to learn Twin Lion Fist, so those are out. As for Medic Boost I can't learn Mystic Palm until I find Lady Tsunade, and that prevents me from learning Chakra Recovery and Life Stream as well. Lots of choices." Carefully allocating her skills she now had a new setup.

**Eight Trigrams 64 Palms (3) +1**

**Rotation (3) +1**

**Gentle Step (3) +2**

**Byakugan Boost (5) +5**

**Medicine Potency (5) +3**

**Pressure Point Boost (3) +2**

**Heal Booster (1) +1**

Hinata confirmed that she wanted her skills set and then went to check her stats. Upon viewing the screen she saw a picture of herself, her rank, and her Special Ability. She also saw there were 5 different stats she could allocate points to. "Ok so my special ability is 'My Ninja Way'. What does it do?" Tapping it brought up the description.

_My Ninja Way-Vowing to never give up in anything she does and to never go back on her word, Hinata has a 50 percent chance of surviving a fatal hit in battle with 1 HP left. When Naruto is in the party, this chance increases to 75 percent. If Hinata is equipped with her Ultimate Gear, this chance rises to 95 percent._

"Hmm, never give up. Thank you Naruto-kun." Hinata felt comforted knowing that Naruto continued to influence her positively. "Now for stats. I have 500 points I can distribute over my 5 stats. But what do they do?" She looked at each stat carefully to make sure she didn't mess up.

_Strength-influences attack power of physical attacks and Taijutsu based skills. Also increases the effectiveness of Fire based jutsu._

_Agility-Increases your attacking and movement speed. Also increases your evasiveness to attacks. Boosts the power of Wind style jutsu. _

_Vitality-Increases your Hit Points and increases the rate in which you heal from wounds, also increases your resistance to status effects like paralysis and poison. Increases the power of Earth based jutsu._

_Intelligence-Increases your chakra capacity and increases the power of Medical based skills and Genjutsu. Water Ninjutsu are improved by Intelligence. _

_Dexterity-Improves accuracy of weapon based attacks like shuriken and senbon. Also improves the strength of traps, improves trap disabling skills, and increases the power of Lightning Ninjutsu._

"Hmm, I said I was going to go more medical skills this time, but I want my Gentle Fist arts to still be effective too. I hope this will be ok." She began allocating her points accordingly. **(A/N I will explain how the stats system works at the end of the chapter)**

**Strength 20 (3)**

**Agility 22 (4)**

**Vitality 20 (3)**

**Intelligence 60 (7)**

**Dexterity 30 (4)**

"I guess this is good for now. I should save and get started figuring out what to do." Hinata clicked on save to save her progress and decided to get started with the game. "I can check my equipment and other things later." She felt happy with her choice and made her way out of her room, only to have Neji run into her.

"Lady Hinata, it's time for breakfast." Neji said calmly as he walked toward her.

"Brother…thank you. I'll be down shortly." Hinata nodded in thanks as Neji started walking off. Before he left he turned to her. "One more thing."

"Yes Brother?" Hinata looked back and saw Neji…smiling?

"Congratulations on graduating. If you ever need help with your Gentle Fist skills, let me know and I'll be glad to train with you." Neji sent an honest smile back at her before continuing down the hall.

"Sure. Thank…you." Hinata was more than surprised. Neji was being nice to her. He didn't look at her with a cold glare. She knew that Neji didn't open up and become friendlier toward her until after he lost his match with Naruto in the Chuunin Finals. What happened to him that caused this change? Upon Neji leaving, Hinata heard a ping and looked at her bracelet.

**Mission Available: Training with Neji. Reward: 100XP, Neji gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**New Partner Found: Neji Hyuuga. Talk to Neji to recruit him.**

"Hmm, I can recruit Neji already? I still don't understand why he's nice to me, but I'll have to find out later. I shouldn't keep Father waiting for breakfast." Hinata put the thought to the side and hurried downstairs for breakfast. Once she got to the dining area she saw her father and her sister Hanabi, but there was someone else there as well.

"Hinata dear, good morning! Did you have a good night's sleep?" the person addressing Hinata was a woman she knew shouldn't be here. "Hinata? Are you ok?"

Hinata was completely stunned. This person shouldn't be alive. "M-m-mom? Is…is it really you?"

"Hinata, are you ok?" Hanabi looked at her sister wondering if she stayed up too late. "Of course it's mom. Did you eat some bad cinnamon rolls or something?"

There before her very eyes was Hinata's own mother Hikari. She didn't look sick or weak at all. Then it hit her. _"That's right, I changed it so she didn't die! The game said things would change because of that! _ Tears slowly began to form in her eyes due to the fact that her mother was right there, alive. "I'm ok. I'm just happy to see everyone."

"Well come sit down and enjoy your breakfast. Your mother felt you should have something to congratulate you for graduating so enjoy your cinnamon rolls before they get cold." Hiashi said calmly as he ate some rice. "Also make sure you're not late today for your team assignments."

"Of course Father. I'll make sure to be on time." Hinata sat down quickly beside her mother who handed her a plate with two cinnamon rolls on it.

"One more thing." Hinata looked over at Hiashi who had put his bowl down. "If you end up on a team with the Uzumaki boy, try not to faint. Why you have a crush on him of all people, I'll never know."

Hikari gave her husband a light bump on the shoulder, "Hiashi, leave her alone. Naruto is a very good boy. He tries so hard, so give him credit." She looked over at her daughter warmly. "It's perfectly fine if you like Naruto. Now go ahead and finish up, then head upstairs and get a bath."

"Thanks Mom." Hinata blushed slightly while eating her cinnamon roll. She took her time, enjoying being in her mother's presence once again. After she was finished she left to get ready for her bath. Deciding it would be a good time to learn some new things, when she got to her room she opened the Equipment Menu option. She was now shown a display of her full self with her current clothes. There were slots for an Upper and Lower headgear, Upper Armor, Lower Armor, Cloak, Shoes, two Accessory slots, and finally one slot entitled Ultimate Gear. Deciding to see just what she had, she tapped on her Upper Armor which showed her short sleeve pajama top. It then opened a menu that showed all of the shirts she owned. "It's like my entire wardrobe is in here. This might really come in handy especially on missions." Though when she said that, she received a notification, all with the familiar ping.

**Notification: Full Gear Wardrobe is only accessible in your bedroom. You must take any armors with you to access them outside of your bedroom.**

"So much for that idea." Hinata sighed in defeat, realizing she wouldn't have another advantage. "Hmm, interesting. There's a description on my clothes."

_Hinata's Pajama Top-Hinata's favorite top to sleep in at night. The satin fabric is cool and comfortable. When worn with Hinata's Pajama Shorts, there is a 2 percent chance to wake up in Refreshed Mode after sleeping. When in Refreshed Mode, HP and Chakra Recovery speed are tripled and Hinata earns 10 percent more experience and money in combat. Effect lasts for one hour._

Hinata was amazed that her clothes would give her such a bonus. Wondering if there was anything else like it, she picked up the guidebook from her desk and flipped through, finding a listing of all equipment available. "So everything I have will have some kind of a bonus stat and it looks like some equipment combinations will give me more bonuses." Turning the page she then saw something even more interesting. "What is all my underwear doing listed here! This is everything I have!" Hinata was surprised it listed every piece she had, including an extra racy set that Ino had given her to in hopes that it would boost her confidence when talking to Naruto. She did notice some text under the title which did change things up.

_Hinata's underwear collection- One thing that Hinata does is make sure she always wears matching bras and panties. These will always be equipped as a set and will be hidden by wearing armor. Each set will help raise affection levels of a partner. Use dyes to change the color of your armor to increase the affection level bonus._

"Affection levels? Is this how much someone likes me?" Hinata wondered just what element this was. Wondering what kind of boost she had now, she decided to just see what she had on. Returning back to her equipment menu, she tapped on her top and saw an option to remove armor. Tapping it, her top instantly vanished and was now hanging in her open closet. Doing the same for her pants, she now stood only in a simple white pair of panties and matching bra. Tapping the combination on her equip screen displayed a new set of text.

_Hinata's basic bra and panty set-There is nothing complicated about this set except that it is very comfortable to wear with any outfit. Adds 1 points of affection to all characters with each level. Adds 1 extra point of affection with each Affection Quest completed._

"I guess that's good, but I still need to know what affection is." Backing out of the menu, Hinata went back to her guidebook and flipped near the beginning to read up on basics.

_Affection Levels are what draws other characters to Hinata. This causes them to wonder what was so interesting that they needed to be around Hinata to learn more about her. Every character has a base level of affection that can be raised or lowered depending on the outcome of events. Certain events may open once you reach a certain level of affection for characters. Also when a character has a high level of affection, they may trust you with more information, which can lead to new Quests and Missions. In addition you will receive a small bonus stat from your partner. Sometimes you may even be offered to learn a new skill or skill set from your partner._

_Finally, if you raise your partner's affection level gauge to 91 percent or higher, your partner may start to find you attractive and even more trustworthy. You may learn additional hidden information from your partner, or even have a chance to unlock a Secret Skill or your partner's trademark skill. Your partner may even fall in love with you and if you accept their confession of love with one of your own, you can become a couple and the power of your affection bonus with double. You can also gain extra bonuses in addition to standard ones from your new boyfriend/girlfriend. Be on the lookout for items that you think your partner may like. Check each character's profile to find out their likes and dislikes to help you raise and lower their affection. Finally, wearing the right kind of underwear beneath your clothes can help. Every girl wants to make sure she is her best, so pick something to make you feel more confident towards that person. Also make sure to pick out a cute swimsuit for your partner whenever you'll be training in water or spending time at a beach or pool. A one piece is good, but take the risk and show a bit more skin with a cute bikini for a bigger affection bonus!_

Hinata scratched her head slightly after taking in all of the information. Talk about a lot just to get a person to like you. But she knew she had a target. Only one person was the one she wanted to raise the affection level for and that was Naruto. So that meant she had to pick out lots of orange colors and find out just what his likes were. But then now that she thought about it, it couldn't hurt to raise the affection levels of her other teammates since it could give her the chance to learn more skills and abilities, and the idea of bonus stats didn't hurt either. She'd have to plan very carefully on what she was going to do. For now she decided to go a little bit towards her original plan. She closed the equipment window and finished undressing naturally, changing into her bathrobe. Going over to her drawer she saw that everything was organized and noticed she had a lot more underwear than before.

"I guess even in a game wearing clean underwear daily is standard." Normally she'd only have one pair of each color, but she had seven of everything she could wear. She found an orange set and placed it on her bed.

_Orange Bra and Panty set-A gift given to Hinata from her mother. It had a note saying "It might give you a bit more confidence around your crush. Love Mom. Increases Naruto's affection by 3 points each level. Adds 2 extra points of affection to any Naruto Affection Quest Reward. Lowers Sasuke, Kiba, Neji, and Choji's Affection levels by 1 point each level. _

Quickly getting a bath she returned back to her room to change. Instead of equipping herself, she dressed normally and pulled up her window just to see what stats everything had.

_Lower Headgear-Hinata's Headband: Given to all Genin level ninja. This is proof of completing the Academy. Reduce physical damage by 1 percent._

_Upper Armor-Standard Shirt: A comfortable short sleeve shirt with thin mesh weave armor. Basic gear for a new Genin. Adds Vitality+1_

_Lower Armor: Standard Pants: Lightweight and comfortable pants. Adds Agility+1_

_Cloak: Hinata's Jacket: A large jacket designed not to be revealing. The crest of the Hyuuga clan is on the sleeve. Adds Vitality+2_

_Shoes: Standard Shoes: Everyday shoes that provide good support. Adds Agility+ 1_

"One more save just in case and it's time to see if I'm on Kurenai-sensei's team again." Hinata straightened her headband around her neck and saved her progress. Leaving her room she made her way downstairs and was just about to leave when she ran into a girl with Neji.

"Oops, sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention." The girl apologized quickly.

"Tenten, are you ok? You need to be more watchful." Neji replied. "And you Lady Hinata, are you ok as well?"

"I'm fine Neji. Who's this? Is she your teammate?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, Tenten is one of my teammates. She's very good with weapons." Neji replied.

"So you're Neji's cousin. I've seen you around town before. Heading off to the academy to get your team assignment huh?" Tenten asked as she fixed a bun in her hair. Hinata nodded. "Well hopefully you'll get a good team."

"Thanks. Well I have to go. It was good meeting you Tenten. Hope to see you again sometime." Hinata said as she took her leave.

"Sure thing. And if you need any weapons, come by the armory. I work there part time and will be glad to help you out."

"I will. Bye!" Hinata left quickly only to hear another chime.

**New Partner Found: Tenten. Talk to Tenten to recruit her.**

**Mission Available: Fortune Telling with Tenten. Reward 100XP, Tenten gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

* * *

Taking note of the new information, Hinata made it to the Academy in record time. Inside she saw all of the other graduates all waiting to find out who they'd be assigned to for their ninja careers. She quickly took her seat, noticing that Naruto was sitting in the same row as Sasuke. She remembered how he didn't pass the exam but told everyone he did extra credit with Iruka and was able to pass. "This time I'll congratulate him properly and try not to be shy around him." She said to herself warmly. As she waited she overheard Ino and Sakura come barging through the door, talking about who got to the class faster. That's when it hit her. Last time she remembered that Sakura pushed Naruto out of the way because she wanted to sit with Sasuke, and the rest of the girls followed close by. Naruto then jumped on the desk and stared down at Sasuke, only to have the boy in front of them lean back and bump into Naruto, causing him to kiss Sasuke! The entire scene was unfolding right before her eyes and she couldn't let that happen.

"Naruto!" She stood up quickly and called out to him. "Hey Naruto!"

Naruto and Sasuke paused, as did the angry mob of Sasuke's fan girls and all turned back at Hinata. Naruto was a bit confused since he wondered why she of all people would call out to him. With that he jumped off the desk and walked through the angry mob and went to see what she wanted. "Hey Hinata, what's up."

"I…well that is…" Hinata started to speak but instantly started stuttering again. _"Why am I doing this again? I gotta get my words out!"_

Naruto turned his head a bit, wondering what was going on with her. "You ok?"

Hinata took one more deep breath. _"It's your story remember! You have the power to make the change. Don't let the past stop you!" _She exhaled and smiled. "I wanted…to say congratulations on graduating. You looked depressed yesterday and I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you."

Naruto was stunned a bit, but it wore off quickly. He then flashed a large grin on his face. "Gee thanks Hinata! Don't worry about not talking to me yesterday. It's cool. Congrats to you too. Hope you get a good team!"

"You too!" Hinata smiled back with her reply as Iruka entered the room to give out assignments. Naruto went back and took his seat while Hinata heard a familiar chime. She was going to check the messages but figured she'd wait.

Iruka began his congratulatory speech on how well everyone did and how proud he was of everyone. He then got into the team assignments and once he got to Team 7, Hinata remembered all too well what was going to happen. Naruto would be assigned to a team with Sasuke and Sakura, the top male and female rookies. She'd be assigned a team with Kurenai, Shino, and Kiba.

"Now for Team 7. This team will be comprised of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki…" Iruka said before Naruto cut him off.

"Why am I with this stuck up jerk?" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Well Naruto, The top male and female graduates and the bottom graduate are paired up. Sasuke graduated 1st while you were last. This is how it's always been. As for the top female, we actually had a tie this year. It seems that both Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga tied for top female." Iruka replied to calm Naruto. "It was tough to see who would be your third partner and there was a lot of talk going on."

"I tied with Hinata?" Sakura looked back and wondered just how in the world that happened. She always knew Hinata was quiet and reserved.

As for Hinata…_"I tied with Sakura? But last time I was sure she beat me out of the top spot, even though I was holding back!"_ She thought about how this could have all happened until it hit her. _"Was this an aftereffect of having my Mom not die? Just what else changed because of that?"_

Iruka continued with the team announcements. "As I was saying, we all thought hard and balanced your various skills. Therefore the final member of Team 7 is…."

Things seemed to completely slow down in front of Hinata. Somehow all the lighting dimmed and the room became darker. She even noticed that everyone somehow stopped moving. What then appeared in front of her was a large wheel that had Team 7 and Team 8 in various divisions. Above the wheel it said "Destiny Spin: Decide your team."

"So choosing my team is all up to luck." She saw that each section was even so she had a 50/50 chance. "Ok here we go. Please let me be on Naruto's team!" She closed her eyes and spun the wheel. She decided that she wouldn't see the result and just wait for Iruka to call out the result. She could hear the wheel slowing down until it finally came to a stop.

"Hinata Hyuuga, you're the third member of Team 7." Iruka announced. Hinata's eyes opened wide as she couldn't believe her luck. "It was tough choosing between you and Sakura. In fact we had to go pretty far back as the two of you were evenly matched all year. To be honest we checked everything from your Taijutsu scores, ranged skills, and even went back to your kunoichi classes as well."

"So how did you choose Iruka-sensei?" asked Sakura, wanting to know how she got edged out.

"Well it turns out during your Cooking Class midterm, Lord Hokage liked Hinata's cookies a little better than yours Sakura." Iruka said with a dumb smile, causing Sakura to face plant on the floor.

"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME! I LOST BECAUSE OF SOME COOKIES?" Sakura was furious that she could lose out due to something so stupid.

"Hehe gotcha Sakura. Sorry, Lord Hokage wanted me to do that." Iruka quickly apologized to get her to calm down. "In reality the reason Hinata was chosen is because with her background in Gentle Fist style, it would complement Naruto and Sasuke's physical fighting styles, while you're better suited for Team 8 with Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Your quick thinking, intelligence, and strength in Genjutsu make you more suited for their team. It really came down to your skills, that's all."

Sakura sat back down, feeling slightly down that she wasn't on Sasuke's team, but she accepted his reasoning. "Fine, I'm ok with that."

As for Hinata, _"I'm on Naruto's team! This is great! I wonder how things will be this time."_ Hinata looked over at Naruto and saw he looked somewhat defeated. _"That's right. Naruto still likes Sakura. I guess it's ok for me to try and change things for my benefit. But I can't act like a fan girl. I have to be considerate of his feelings too. Yeah that's what I'll do."_

After hearing all of the team announcements, each team had an hour before they were to meet their Jounin. Naruto wanted to go out for ramen as usual, and Sasuke looked at him like he was a blasted idiot. Hinata knew of the tension the two had and felt that it might be better to start things off on a good note. "Um, if it's ok, I'd like to treat both of you to lunch to celebrate. I know that Naruto wanted ramen, but would it be ok if we all went out for barbecue today?"

Naruto and Sasuke both looked at her in surprise. Sasuke was especially surprised since Hinata wasn't one of the girls that fawned over him every waking moment, and that she actually took her training seriously. Naruto looked a little down, but was happy over getting free food anyway. "Really Hinata? That sounds great. Thanks for offering!"

"I'm fine with that." Sasuke nonchalantly agreed as well.

"Thank you." Hinata bowed politely. "Um before we go, could you please excuse me? I need to go to the girl's room." Both boys nodded and she took her leave, hearing a chime while she headed for the bathroom. Upon arriving, she noticed it was empty and went to a stall for extra cover. She pulled up her notification display on her bracelet.

**Affection Quest: Prevented Naruto from kissing Sasuke: 100XP rewarded. Naruto gains 3 points of affection toward you. Sasuke gains 1 point of affection toward you.**

**Achievement Unlocked: Girl Envy: All other girls are envious because you were placed on Sasuke's Team. 100XP rewarded. Ino loses 1 point of affection toward you. Sakura loses 1 point of affection toward you.**

**New Partner Found: Naruto Uzumaki. Talk to Naruto to recruit him.**

**New Partner Found: Sasuke Uchiha. Talk to Sasuke to recruit him.**

**New Partner Found: Shino Aburame. Talk to Shino to recruit him.**

**New Partner Found: Kiba Inuzuka. Talk to Kiba to recruit him.**

**New Partner Found: Sakura Haruno. Talk to Sakura to recruit her.**

**New Partner Found: Shikamaru Nara: Talk to Shikamaru to recruit him.**

**New Partner Found: Ino Yamanaka: Talk to Ino to recruit her.**

**New Partner Found: Choji Akimichi: Talk to Choji to recruit him.**

**Mission Available: Ramen with Naruto. Reward 100XP, Naruto gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Take a walk with Sasuke. Reward 100XP, Sasuke gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Insect Observation with Shino. Reward 100XP, Shino gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Walk Akamaru with Kiba. Reward 100XP, Kiba gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Trivia Time with Sakura. Reward 100XP, Sakura gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Shogi with Shikamaru. Reward 100XP, Shikamaru gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Enjoy a snack with Choji. Reward 100XP, Choji gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

**Mission Available: Shopping with Ino. Reward 100XP, Ino gains 1 point of affection toward you. This is a repeatable quest that can be done once a day.**

Hinata was amazed at everything that she unlocked just from meeting the teams. She did like the fact that she could do a repeatable quest with everyone to not only gain experience, but to raise their affection too and if she had the right equipment, she could boost it. But she had to admit, that was a lot to deal with.

"Maybe I should turn Notifications off. That was a lot just from one encounter and I don't want to keep my log cluttered. Well I guess the first thing is to try and recruit partners. I just don't know if they'll really believe me." She sighed hoping that the next choices she made would be the right ones. Leaving the bathroom, she met back with the boys and figured now was as good as ever to try it.

"So you ready to go Hinata?" Naruto asked as she returned to the main entryway.

"Yes, but on the way, can we stop by my house? I need to pick up something. Also I need some help with a task. Do the two of you think you could help me out? You don't have to if you don't want to." Hinata asked politely.

"Sure thing Hinata. I'd be happy to help out." Naruto said happily.

"Fine with me. As long as it doesn't bother my training." Sasuke said in a cool tone. Upon both boys agreeing, Hinata heard a new chime and looked at her bracelet.

**Partner recruited! Naruto Uzumaki has become your partner!**

**Partner recruited! Sasuke Uchiha has become your partner!**

**Mission Complete! Team 7 Assembled! Reward 1000XP, Naruto gains 3 points of affection toward you. Sasuke gains 1 point of affection toward you.**

**Level up! You reached level 16! You earned 16 stat points and 1 skill point! Naruto earns 3 points of affection toward you. Sasuke loses 1 point of affection toward you. Next level in 3600 XP**

**Level up! Naruto reached level 12! Naruto earns 12 stat points and 1 skill point. Next level in 2000 XP**

**Level up! Sasuke reached level 16! Sasuke earns 16 stat points and 1 skill point. Next level in 3600 XP**

**Naruto affection level: 44/200 points**

**Sasuke affection level: 36/200 points**

**Mission Available! Help Naruto get leveled up! Naruto is far behind in his levels with his teammates. Help him catch up to their level by training hard with him. Reward: Naruto gains enough levels to be even with his two teammates.**

**Mission Available! Meet your Jounin Sensei! Your sensei has been assigned. Meet with him to get your ninja career headed in the right direction. Reward: 100XP**

Unknown to Hinata, once she leveled up an upward arrow with the words 'Level Up' appeared over her head. Since Naruto and Sasuke were now recruited, the same thing happened to them as well. Upon looking at the two, she saw a red meter, a blue meter, and the name of the person she looked at. Her two teammates saw the same thing on her.

"Uh Hinata? What is that thing over your head?" Naruto asked, looking completely confused.

Hinata let out a small laugh, "That's my health and chakra meters. You have one too. See the thing is…our lives are just a part of one big video game."

"Oh ok." Naruto nodded while Sasuke looked like he heard the most off the wall thing in the world. Then things finally caught up with Naruto. "WHAT!"

* * *

**Looks like Hinata now has a good party and some quests to work with as well. But the big question is how are Naruto and Sasuke going to handle the truth? And just what all changed due to the fact that Hinata's mom is alive and well? Guess we'll know after loading the game next time!**

* * *

**Now to help with all of those who are confused about the Stats and Affection system. I got the stat allocation system from a game called Ragnarok Online (which is very freaking awesome! It's a good MMO if anyone's interested in playing it!) Here is the rundown on how it will work for everyone.**

**With each level gained, a character will earn 1 skill point to put toward new skills. The number of stat points they earn is equal to the level they just reached. (i.e reaching lvl 16 nets 16 stat points.)**

**When allocating stat points, the higher a stat gets, the more points it takes to increase. The number of points to raise a stat increase in increments of 10. That means from 1-10, it costs 2 stat points, 11-20 costs 3 stat points, 21-30 costs 4, 31-40 costs 5, and so on. I may implement a level cap around 99, and make it that the highest a stat can get is 99 points. Depending on how the game goes, there may be an increase in stats and levels, but that will come later.**

**With the Affection system, each character starts with 20 points of affection toward Hinata as a base with 200 being the maximum. Since she has to get someone's Affection to 91 percent for them to fall in love, that's going to be 182 points needed. As you saw, she earned a lot of points for Naruto due to her gear. Also with the level up bonus, it only occurs when she levels up, not when her partners do. This will make it so that she doesn't max out someone's Affection too quickly. As a start, she will most likely try for 50-100 Affection with someone. This will put her at the Good Friend level with a character and she will be able to start learning more detailed information from characters an opening up more quests. At 101-150, she hits Best Friend status, and this can cause something like Naruto revealing his Jinchuuriki status to the entire party, and she has a chance to open up Ultimate Gear Missions. 151-200 makes her a True Friend and at that point she is so trusted that a character will share lots of secrets with her, fall in love with her, or even teach her a trademark skill if her stats are acceptable(An example would be Tenten teaching her how to use Rising Twin Dragons). She'll also get a bonus stat if the person is in party (Example of Sakura being in the party and being at high Affection. Sakura would give Hinata a 20 percent boost to all of her healing skills and reduce her healing skill chakra consumption by 25 percent.)**


	3. Chapter 3

Another chapter in the continuing journey of our heroine and her teammates. What surprises lie in store for them today? Time to load our gamesave and jump into the fray!

* * *

Chapter 3: This game's pretty interesting….I guess.

"Our lives are a WHAT!" Naruto was freaking out over the news that Hinata just told him. "What in the world is a video game?"

"I'm with the idiot on this. Hinata, just what in the world are you talking about?" Sasuke was a little calmer about the whole thing, but he still wanted an explanation.

Hinata knew it would be a long talk, but she had to do it. "If you guys will come to my house, I promise I will explain everything I know in full detail. It was a shock to me too, but it's all real."

"Whatever." Sasuke sighed, knowing that he'd have to wait for an explanation. "Hey idiot, snap out of it. We're leaving."

"What! Don't call me an idiot you jerk!" Naruto yelled back as he saw Hinata and Sasuke walk off. "Hey wait up!"

The walk was rather interesting since Naruto seemed to start talking to himself the whole time while they were on their way to the Hyuuga compound. Sasuke still thought he was an idiot, but it was something he had to get used to. The trip was quick and next thing the boys knew they were sitting in Hinata's room, wondering why there was a strange thing of light on her floor.

* * *

"Ok, this is everything I know. From what I can remember…" Hinata began her explanation of how she remembered starting the game, remembering certain events from the last time she went through her last lifetime, and how she changed the course of events by keeping her mother alive. She even showed her bracelet and quest log to show everything that has happened. Finally she showed how she could unequip her jacket and re-equip it, making it all happen in an instant. Sasuke seemed to slowly understand about everything, while Naruto…well…

"Holy cow that is so cool! So does this mean you know what exactly will happen and can change the future?" Naruto was wide eyed like a kid in a candy store.

"That I don't know. I mean I did remember that the last time I waited to get my team assignment, you and Sasuke ended up accidentally kissing. That's why I called out to you to congratulate you." Hinata said softly. "Other than that, I know things that may happen immediately, but if it was something you did then I wouldn't know because I wasn't on your team last time."

Naruto and Sasuke both took a minute to think about the fact that they ended up kissing each other in Hinata's past life and were both thankful it didn't happen. "Uh…thanks for…ya know, preventing that whole kiss thing."

Sasuke was trying to play cool the whole time, not wanting to admit that he was thankful as well. "Yeah what he said." Trying to get back to things, Sasuke figured it would be good to learn just what they were into now. "So, since we know this is a game and we have life bars, what happens if they run out and hit zero?"

Hinata thought of the only thing she could, "I think you die. And if all of us lose our Hit Points it's game over. But I do remember that if we do die, we start back at the last point we saved and we will retain all memories before we died. So if we get into a battle and lose, we have a second chance to think things over."

"Well dying sounds like it hurts, so I don't want to do it if I don't have to." Naruto said crossly.

"The idiot's right. Well Hinata, you seem to have the most knowledge so why don't you tell us what all we can do?" Sasuke started thinking this may help him get stronger and help him kill a certain man, so he was all ears to pay attention.

Hinata had thought about showing the guide book to the duo, but changed her mind and explained things herself. The first thing she did was pull up the menu and went to the Partner option. Now pictures of Naruto and Sasuke had lightened up and she could select each one. "Ok Sasuke, here's what your profile says. It says your Special Ability is "Rookie of the Year".

_Sasuke's Special Ability-Rookie of the Year: Sasuke proved he was the best of the best and graduated as number 1. Showing off his ability, he'll prove that he's the best. When in combat all weaker enemies focus on Sasuke and become intimidated, losing 10 percent attack, defense, and speed. If Sasuke has his Sharingan unlocked, enemies lose 20 percent. If Sasuke is equipped with his Ultimate Gear, enemies lose 30 percent, and he gets to attack first in battle._

Sasuke looked over this and thought it wasn't too bad. His enemies became weaker just from facing him. He felt he could use that to a definite advantage. "Ok Hinata, what else is there?"

Hinata touched the skills tab on his profile, showing his two skill trees. "From what I know, we're all supposed to have three skill trees, but I don't know how to get the third one yet. But as for your two trees, you have Sharingan and Fire Style, so I guess your primary element is a Fire type, right?"

"It is. Uchiha have specialized in Fire Style for ages." Sasuke replied as he looked over the skills. "What do the dots mean, and what are these gray boxes?"

"The dots are what level the skills are at, and the gray boxes are skills you can't access until you either do a quest or increase your skill level in other techniques." Hinata explained carefully. "Now as for your skills, in your Sharingan tree you have Sharingan Eye, Illusion Breaker, Mangekyo Sharingan, and I don't know what the other four are. However the way the skill tree is, you have to have unlocked Mangekyo Sharingan to access three of those other skills, and it says that is a Quest Skill. So for now you can only power up Sharingan Eye and Illusion Breaker in that tree. As for Fire Style, you have Giant Fireball, Phoenix Flower, Flame Dragon Missile, Fire Dragon, Blaze Style, and two unknown skills that most likely require Blaze Style."

"Amazing." Sasuke became more intrigued and just what power he could gain. He knew he had to train hard if he wanted access to all of these skills and do whatever it takes to unlock the advanced ones.

"As for how you are now, you have 1 point in Sharingan Eye, 2 points in Great Fireball, and 1 point in Phoenix Flower and have 1 point to spend." Hinata explained. "Do you want to go ahead and put your point into something?"

"Put it into Sharingan Eye. What does the explanation say now?" he asked.

After allocating his point, Hinata checked the description.

_Sharingan Eye-Allows Sasuke use of his bloodline, the Sharingan. When active, Sasuke has a chance to copy one jutsu to temporarily use on his own during the battle. His accuracy improves with each level._

_Level 1-50 percent chance to activate the Sharingan in battle when Sasuke takes damage. When active he can copy one Level 1 skill, and gains a 10 percent boost to accuracy._

_Level 2-75 percent chance, Sasuke can copy one Level 2 skill, and gains a 15 percent accuracy boost._

_Level 3-First Tomoe Unlocked. Sasuke can use the Sharingan freely now and can copy one Level 3 skill, and gain a 20 percent accuracy boost._

_Level 4-Second Tomoe unlocked. Sasuke can copy a Level 4 skill, gains a 25 percent accuracy boost and a 10 percent speed boost._

_Level 5-Third Tomoe unlocked. Sasuke can copy a Level 5 skill, gains a 30 percent accuracy boost, a 15 percent speed boost, and reduces effects of Genjutsu by 25 percent._

"I think I'm going to focus on that skill for now. " Sasuke seemed to have a plan for what he wanted to do. "How are my stats?"

"Hey why is it all about Sasuke, huh? What about me?" Naruto was in a grumpy mood since it seemed he was being ignored.

"I d-didn't forget about you Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked out in shame. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll get to you next ok."

Naruto rolled his eyes and just went along. "Oh alright. As long as he's not stronger than me, then I'm fine."

"Of course I'm stronger than you idiot. I'm 4 levels higher than you are." Sasuke said proudly. "So my stats?"

"Here they are." Hinata said, going over his build setup.

**Strength 40 (5)**

**Agility 40 (5)**

**Vitality 20 (3)**

**Intelligence 30 (4)**

**Dexterity 32 (5)**

"It says you have 18 points to spend. The level up message said you only got 16, so I guess you had some left over. Hmm, I think we can save status points over levels and let them stockpile if we're doing ok." Hinata said to the two. "So what would you like to level up?"

"Didn't you say that Strength boosts any type of Fire Skill?" Sasuke asked, getting a positive nod from Hinata. "Raise Strength by 3 points and Vitality by 1 point.)

Hinata did the adjustment, now giving him 43 Strength and 21 Vitality. "I guess we really won't see the changes until our levels get much higher. So are you ready Naruto-kun?"

"You bet! I wanna see how cool I am!" Naruto said in excitement.

"Whatever idiot." Sasuke brushed off the excitement while Hinata began her explanation.

"Ok Naruto-kun, it says your Special Ability is Will of Fire." Hinata read the description.

_Naruto's Special Ability-Will of Fire: Naruto's determination to never give up drives him to fight for his friends, his village, and all those who are special to him. Naruto will fight to the bitter end and use every ounce of strength in his body. When in battle, Naruto's attack power is proportional to his teammates' health. He can gain up to a 200 percent attack boost as his teammates' health decreases. If a teammate falls in battle, Naruto will enter into Berserker Mode and immediately gain the 200 percent bonus. He will attack his enemies uncontrollably and if he is not careful he can even attack his allies. If Naruto is equipped with his Ultimate Gear, the attack boost increases to a maximum of 400 percent, and he will only attack enemies in Berserker Mode***._

"That is awesome! So if you guys get hurt, I get more power! Let's see anyone stop me now!" Naruto cheered in victory.

"Hinata, what's up with those three stars at the end of the sentence?" Sasuke was intrigued and knew something was up.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it means his ability could change as he gets stronger?" Hinata replied, although she had an idea of what it was.

"Whatever, what about my skills?" Naruto stayed excited over what he might be able to learn.

"Ok…um…Naruto-kun, don't be upset ok." Hinata said when she saw his skill list.

"Why would I be…" Naruto took a look at his skill list and saw it was pretty much empty. "What the crap! Why don't I have skills?"

"Well it says your first skill tree is Naruto's Style. The skills you know are Shadow Clone, Shadow Boost, and four more that are blacked out." Hinata said, noting that he only had 6 skills. "Also your second skill tree is blacked out as well."

"No way! This is so not cool! I don't think I like this game Hinata." Naruto sulked angrily. "I mean I get shorted a skill and don't even have my 2nd skill tree available."

"I think maybe these are quest skills Naruto-kun. Maybe we just have to do the right quests to unlock them." Hinata tried comforting him as best she could. "Also Quest skills can sometimes be stronger than normal skills since you have to do a lot to get them."

"You might be right, Hey thanks Hinata." Naruto pepped up more. "So what's up with my stats?"

Hinata flipped the screen and showed off his stats. Apparently the game really didn't like Naruto for some reason. "Uh, well…." She read off his stats hoping he wouldn't be too upset again.

**Strength 25 (3)**

**Agility 25 (3)**

**Vitality 30 (3)**

**Intelligence 20 (3)**

**Dexterity 25 (3)**

"Not only that, but you have 129 points to spend as well. Maybe that's why you're not as high level because your stats didn't adjust accordingly. And look at this! Beside your Hit Points you have a multiplier of 3 and your chakra has a multiplier of 5." Hinata noticed the differences, wondering what it could be. "Does this mean you have three times more health and five times more chakra?"

"Whatever it is, we can find out later. Just up the idiot's skills and let's go." Sasuke said impatiently. He was ready to get back to the academy and back to training.

"Gee thanks jerk. I was actually learning something." Naruto grumbled back.

Hinata hoped to make things better and give Naruto some hope, "Um Naruto, if I can recommend, put some points into Agility. I think you'd be great as a faster ninja."

"Give him some Intelligence too. That idiot needs all the help he can get." Sasuke laughed a bit over his snide remark, getting an evil look out of Naruto.

"Shut up Sasuke." Naruto paid no heed and turned back to Hinata. "Yeah you might be right. So why don't you set my points Hinata. I'm still kinda confused."

Hinata felt a little flush as Naruto asked her to handle things. "Ok, I'll handle it. I'll boost your Agility to 45 and your Intelligence to 27 for now."

Naruto still looked a little hurt about his stats and skills but figured he'd get over them. "Well that's cool. But I'm kinda hungry. Can we get something to eat now?"

Hinata remembered she was treating the two for lunch when she heard a knock on her door. "Hinata dear, are you in?"

"Mom? Oh yes, I'm here." Hinata replied as her mother opened the door.

"Oh hello Naruto, Sasuke. So are these your two teammates?" Hikari asked warmly.

"Yup we sure are Ms. Hyuuga. Hinata was about to take us out to lunch to celebrate." Naruto said with a smile. One thing that had changed was that Hikari was a very close friend of Naruto's mother Kushina. After Kushina's death, Hikari did what she could to help out Naruto, even bringing him some home cooked meals when he was younger every now and then. It wasn't much, but she felt even the smallest bit of kindness could go a long way. She even tried to do the same to help Sasuke as well after the loss of his family.

"I see. Well I have some lunch prepared already. Why not save your money Hinata and have your friends enjoy with us today?" Hikari asked, noticing a smile on Naruto's face.

"Oh really! You bet! Hinata, your mom is an awesome cook!" Naruto said happily. "I say we stay for lunch!"

"For once I agree with you. Thank you for the offer Lady Hikari." Sasuke gave a small bow of respect to the host.

"Well boys feel free to get washed up in the bathroom down the hall then head to the patio. I'll have lunch brought there. You come quickly as well Hinata dear." Hikari took her leave to prepare the lunch. Naruto was about to take off running but Sasuke snuck in before him to get out of Hinata's room. Before he could leave, Hinata grabbed him.

"Hey what gives?" Naruto wondered why she had his arm.

"Naruto, look about your skills. I think I might know why they aren't active. I think it's due to a secret of yours that you don't feel comfortable telling me about yet because you really haven't gotten to know me that well." Hinata said slowly as she removed her hand from his arm. "Look, I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want, and I want you to tell me when you feel you can trust me ok."

Naruto had a feeling she may know about the Nine Tails, but he was still skeptical. "Really? You're not going to be all in my face with questions?"

Hinata took hold of his hand, "I promise. This will be the last I say something about it until you are ready to speak about it yourself."

Naruto looked at her hand and somehow felt her sincerity, "Thanks Hinata. I trust you when you say that. I do have a secret, but you're right about me not feeling comfortable speaking about it yet. But I promise when I feel better about it, you'll be the first to know."

Hinata smiled at his response, "Thank you Naruto. Well, I'll be down in a bit ok. I might change clothes before we go."

Naruto walked out of the room and closed her door part way, "Alright. See you down there." He closed her door and headed down for lunch. As for Hinata, she heard another chime.

**New Mission: Naruto's Secret. Naruto's secret may be the key to unlocking more of his abilities. Prove to him that you can be trustworthy of his secret. Reward: Unlock Naruto's second skill tree**

Hinata then took out her guidebook and turned to Naruto's profile page. She noticed a lot more text than what the profile screen showed.

"So what will you reveal to me this time?" Hinata said as she looked over the page. She saw one note at the bottom of his story profile.

_Naruto is a unique character as he starts off weaker than the other partners. However due to the Nine Tails and his Uzumaki blood, he gets a permanent increase in his health and chakra. In addition his health and chakra recovery are naturally double the speed of other partners._

_Naruto's second unique characteristic is that a majority of his skills are quest skills, making them more powerful than other skills. He can also tie skills from his first skill tree together with his second skill tree to boost the power._

_Naruto's third unique characteristic is that he's missing his 7__th__ skill from his Naruto's Style tree. This skill is hidden and can only be unlocked by building his stats correctly, getting his Ultimate Gear, completing the right quests, and finding a secret accessory. This may be the most difficult task to do, but if you complete it, Naruto will have access to what could possibly be the most powerful skill in the game._

_Finally due to Naruto's power, he levels slower than everyone else. Naruto suffers a 25 percent experience penalty. It may be hard to level Naruto early, but if you never give up on him, he has the potential to become the most powerful character in the game! _

Hinata then saw that the three stars by Naruto's Special Ability had another message at the bottom. It said _Naruto's Special Ability will change once he unlocks his second skill tree._ Finally turning the page she confirmed what she knew all along. Naruto's second skill tree said 'Nine-tailed Jinchuuriki Style'. Closing the book and putting it back in storage, she felt more determined to help him, "Naruto, I promise I'll do everything I can to help you. You did so much for us last time, well this time it's my turn." She went over to her dresser, opening up her underwear drawer. Taking a deep breath, she went for something that she knew would boost her affection with Naruto a lot faster.

_Orange Lace Bra and Thong Panty set-A very racy set that Ino convinced Hinata to buy in order to make her feel super sexy around Naruto. Hinata sometimes regrets having bought it since it was so expensive and very revealing. Increased Naruto's Affection level by 5 points each level. Adds an additional 3 points to any Naruto Affection Quest Reward. Lowers Sasuke, Kiba, and Neji's Affection by 3 points per level._

She took a deep breath and opened her equipment window. She tapped the first tab which showed her in the Orange Bra and Panty set she put on this morning. Quickly double tapping the image opened her inventory. She found a small icon of the Orange Lace set and pulled it toward her image. Letting go, she saw the image change and now her picture was wearing the Orange Lace set. The regular Orange Set had now been placed in her laundry hamper and a small clock appeared over the icon of the Orange Set. Reading the description, it said it would be 24 hours before the stock was replenished to 7 items. That probably meant it would be a day before her laundry was done. Looking back at her image, Hinata immediately blushed and herself and felt slightly uncomfortable for a bit. "Ok that's why I only wore this set on very rare occasions. I forgot how thongs can be! Oh well, Naruto is at 44/200 Affection Points. I'll go for 50 points and see if it changes anything." Before she closed the up the menu, she switched back to Naruto's skills. Remembering that she didn't ask him what he wanted, she noticed he had 1 point in Shadow Clone and none in Shadow Boost, and had 10 points left over. She didn't want him to suddenly think he was now overpowered so she increased Shadow Clone to 3 and Shadow Boost to 3, leaving 5 points for later. Satisfied with her actions, she closed the screen, saved the game and went to lunch.

* * *

Lunch moved fairly quickly and the team made it back to the academy where the other 6 rookies had been waiting for their sensei. Hinata took a seat and decided to just wait things out. The other two teams were carted off while she, Sasuke, and Naruto were left waiting.

"Really? We've been here an hour and he's still not here?" Naruto was pacing back and forth, grumbling at how bad it was that they had to wait. "What kind of Jounin leaves his team waiting?"

"The idiot's right. This is not cool at all." Sasuke agreed with Naruto, once again getting a strange look from the blonde. "What, sometimes you actually say stuff that makes sense."

Hinata got up from her seat and walked over to the bookshelf, figuring she could read something to help pass the time. As she checked all the books, she found one quite interesting. "Hmm, Academy Basics." Once she took the book, a familiar chime went off, getting both Naruto and Sasuke's attention.

"Hinata, what was that?" asked Sasuke as he looked around. "I mean you did hear that chime right?"

She nodded, "I did. Whenever something happens, that chime goes off. I guess you heard it as well since we're all in the same room." Hinata looked at her bracelet to check the notification.

**Key Item found-Academy Basics. A text to help refresh you of core skills. All characters Intelligence +1**

"Whoa, we get a permanent stat boost just for finding items?" Naruto asked as the book somehow disappeared.

"Seems like it. There are probably more of these key items all over the place. Hinata, do you have any idea where more might be found?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata took a minute to think, "Well, we should check our rooms to see if anything is there. Also there may be things in some of our favorite places as well."

Both boys thought it was a good idea and resolved to check places when they had time. For now they still had to endure with waiting for their Jounin to arrive. Naruto was getting fed up with having to wait, so he had other plans. He decided to set a trap for their Jounin for being so late. His idea was to set up an eraser on the door to have it fall on the Jounin's head. This of course was a simple prank that would do nothing but cause mild irritation. Of course when their Jounin finally arrived, it got a laugh out of Naruto, but Sasuke looked at him like he had gotten more stupid and Hinata just sighed, feeling slightly embarrassed.

After introductions were done and the group met their Jounin Kakashi Hatake and receiving the 100XP reward for completing another quest, the team decided to try their hand at completing the quest to get Naruto leveled up. After getting more quest details, the three learned that they had to train with Naruto for two hours in order for him to go up a level. During that time neither Hinata nor Sasuke would get any experience. Sasuke complained a bit over not being able to get any stronger through the ordeal, but Hinata hoped to change his mind by saying the team would be better if Naruto was even leveled with everyone. It took the rest of the day, but Naruto was able to gain 3 levels. With his points he had Hinata raise his Agility to 50 and his Intelligence to 30. He opted out of spending his skill points since he only had two skills open and didn't think much on boosting them.

* * *

The group figured they could complete the quest the next day, but knew they had to prepare for another mission received after doing introductions with Kakashi. After all returning home, Hinata changed into her pajamas, saved the game and went to sleep. The next morning when she woke up, she got herself dressed/equipped and took a look at the Mission they got.

**Mission: Kakashi's Genin Test. Kakashi's test is designed to prove you are ready for regular missions. Kakashi placed a stipulation that you were not to eat before the mission starts. All party members are struck with hunger status, reducing HP and Chakra by 50 percent. Complete Kakashi's test and prove Team 7 is ready to go! Reward: 2000 XP, Unlock Genin Missions, Unlock Sensei: Kakashi. **

**Bonus Objectives**

**Find a way to overcome hunger status**

**Don't let Kakashi tie up one of your partners**

**Force Kakashi to get serious and use his full ability**

"Hmm, so some missions have bonus objectives. I guess we'll get more experience completing those." Hinata had finished up preparing her equipment and was about to head out. "Well I just hate that we can't eat. I'm kinda hungry." As she made her way downstairs, her mother was in the kitchen preparing breakfast with some of the Branch Family staff.

"Hinata, are you on your way to your training exercise this morning?" Hikari had grabbed a towel and wiped her hands before putting a plate of cinnamon rolls on the table. "Here, eat up so you won't be worried about when lunch will be."

"But Mom, we're not supposed to eat anything. That's what Kakashi-sensei said." Hinata replied. "He made it clear we're not supposed to eat at all."

"That may be true dear, but remember, you're a Genin now. Tell me, why on earth would a Jounin tell three Genin to come to training and not be able to give it their all because they're hungry?" Hikari just had a look on her face that said 'Don't believe that one-eyed yahoo for a minute.'

Hinata took a minute before she remembered just what the mission parameters were. "I get what you mean mom!" In a flash she was now in the kitchen herself, preparing three breakfast boxes. "Mom, what's really good to pack when you need energy?"

"Well dear, anything with lots of carbohydrates are good. That includes rice, pastas, bread, and potatoes." Hikari said. "Here, take these as well." She held up three bags full of nuts, raisins, cranberries, dried bananas, dried apples, and granola. "This will be good for a little extra boost if you need it."

Hinata finished up the three breakfast boxes and wrapped them up. She then went and wrapped up three cinnamon rolls, and got the three bags of trail mix. Getting them all in one good bundle, she knew she was ready. "Thanks a ton Mom, this will help a whole lot!"

"Good luck Hinata. Go out and do your best ok?" Hikari smiled as Hinata took off out the door. "Honestly did Kakashi really think he could get away with having them be hungry? Well let's just say when he finally gets their test started, he'll think twice about making them starve. I know if Kushina was here, she'd have knocked him from here to Suna for pulling that on Naruto."

* * *

Hinata quickly made her way through town, headed for the assigned training ground. Upon getting to the training ground, she saw Naruto and Sasuke waiting for her. Sasuke looked as if he didn't have a care in the world while Naruto looked like he was in pain.

"Naruto are you ok?" She hoped nothing bad happened to him.

"Huh, oh hey Hinata. I'm ok. Just really hungry." Naruto held his stomach as it growled.

"Well, I think I can fix that." Hinata set down the three meals she prepared.

"But we're not supposed to eat anything. Kakashi-sensei clearly stated that." Sasuke said. "Why would you of all people want to go against a rule?"

"Before I answer, why not look at your health and chakra bars?" Hinata said, causing Naruto and Sasuke to look up and see their health. They looked at Hinata's as well and saw what she meant.

"What the hell is this? Why is my health and chakra in half?" Naruto shouted in anger. "This is messed up!"

Hinata opened up the quest log and showed the boys the details of the quest. "When Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat, it put us in a hunger state, making us weaker. But look at the bonus objectives. We get a mission bonus if we overcome that status. That's why I made these." Hinata handed a box to both of the boys. "This way we already start off with a bonus complete."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at the boxes carefully. There was what looked like a text bubble so they each tapped it to read a description.

_Hinata's breakfast box. A delicious breakfast prepared by Hinata. It's fortified with carbs and tastes delicious! A great meal to start off your day. Restores full health and chakra. Special Bonus: Gives a 50 percent health and chakra overcharge! Great for getting in some extra training!_

The boys opened up the box and saw everything she put in. Taking a bite, both boys felt great eating. To finish it off, Hinata gave them each a cinnamon roll her mom made.

"Wow Hinata! That was amazing!" Naruto rubbed his belly in joy. "You made all of that?"

"I did. I've been learning from my mom ever since I was little." Hinata had a small blush on her face from Naruto's compliment.

"Well, that meal did wonders. I feel great." Naruto said as he got to his feet. "Hey check out our health bars." He saw that it had filled up to maximum, and had a second green bar filling up to half way. He then noticed it started slowly decreasing.

"I guess the overcharge slowly counts down until we're back at 100 percent. We should use this to our advantage if Kakashi isn't here. We can try to train Naruto and finally get him up to our level." Sasuke said as he got up and stretched out. "So idiot, ready to level up?"

"You bet!" Naruto got to his feet. The two were about to start sparring when Hinata stopped them.

"Wait guys, take one of these. My mom said they'd come in handy." She handed each one a bag of trail mix.

_Hikari's trail mix. A great snack to have when you don't have time for a meal. There's even enough for two servings! Restores 25 percent health and chakra._

The boys each put the trail mix in their equipment pouch. "Maybe having you on the team won't be bad at all Hinata. I don't know if we'd have info like this if Sakura was on our team." Sasuke said, actually looking a little happy.

"Hey Sakura-chan might have done this for us. I think." Naruto said, scratching his head.

"Come on idiot, let's get to work." Sasuke said as he and Naruto got into a good warm up. Hinata herself decided to get stretched out and loosened up so she wouldn't cramp up herself. About three hours passed when Kakashi finally decided to show up.

"Yo, sorry I'm late. Got lost on the walk of life." Kakashi had a dumb smile on his face as the three Genin didn't believe it one bit.

"Yeah right! What's the big deal for being this late, huh?" Naruto was pretty mad that he had to wait so long. It wasn't without benefit as he did finally level up to lvl 16, boosted his Dexterity to 29, and decided to increase Shadow Clone and Shadow Boost to maximum, leaving him with 5 leftover skill points.

"Not important. Well, as you know your test is to decide whether or not you will become full-fledged Genin ready for missions. You must get these two bells from me before time is up. If you do not, one of you will be tied to the post over here and not be allowed to eat these lunches. Also the ones that get a bell will be allowed to pass. The one that fails to get a bell will be sent back to the academy. Any questions?" The trio shook their heads negatively. At that moment a big logo appeared in front of them.

**EMERGENCY CODE! DUEL! KAKASHI HATAKE!**

It flashed a bit before fading when Kakashi officially started the mission. Before anything else happened, Sasuke grabbed the two and pulled them in a huddle while Kakashi just stood there.

"Ok what in the world was that?" Sasuke asked. "What's an Emergency Code?"

"You'd think we were stuck in a boss battle or something." Naruto said, getting an eye out of Sasuke.

Hinata took a bit to think, "Naruto might be right. I mean he is at a much higher level than us."

"Hinata do you know of any more information on him?" Sasuke asked, hoping she could shed some good news.

"Give me a second." She activated her Byakugan and looked carefully at Kakashi. She then saw a lot more she didn't expect!

"Hinata, are you ok? What happened?" Naruto saw her shaking her head.

"Apparently I can now see a lot more. But why?" Quickly pulling open her skill window, she checked all of her skills for anything when she saw it.

_Byakugan Boost-Enhance the power of the Byakugan to reveal important information like weak points. Lvl5-Byakugan Range increased to 10km, Reveals Enemy Level, Stats, Strengths, and Weaknesses. Can even locate some hidden items._

"It's my Byakugan Boost skill. When I started the game, I maxed it out and now it's giving me a lot of information. Here's what I learned." Hinata said, going over all of Kakashi's stats.

**Kakashi Hatake**

**Jounin Rank**

**Lvl 78**

**Strength 65**

**Agility 81**

**Vitality 64**

**Intelligence 68**

**Dexterity 80**

**Strengths: Lightning, Fire**

**Weaknesses: None**

"Level 78! Holy crap! There's no way we can beat him!" Naruto instantly felt a rush of fear run over him after seeing just how outmatched they were. "We're all lvl 16! He could take us all out in one hit!"

"You're right idiot, he could, but he won't. I don't think this is a battle that we'd die in. Also, he doesn't know that we're at full health because we ate something. So why would he tell us that if we don't succeed, two of us get to…" Sasuke questioned before it hit him. "This test…it's not about beating him. He's trying to divide us and conquer us."

"Divide and what?" Naruto looked even more puzzled.

"Divide and conquer. It's a battle strategy designed to break up teams. He separates us and gets us one on one, then takes us out because he's much higher level than we are." Hinata explained carefully. "The purpose is for us not to be divided and to work together. Otherwise we don't stand a chance."

"Well, anyone got any ideas? And why the heck is he standing there reading that book? Does he think he's really got us that beat?" Naruto asked, hoping someone would have an idea.

"Book…that must be one of the bonuses." Hinata remembered that the final bonus condition was to get Kakashi to fight at full strength. "If we get that away from him as well, it may make him fight at full power and we'd get another bonus."

"Yeah but if that happens, we're gonna lose for sure!" Naruto answered back.

"Not if we keep working together idiot. Besides, did you already forget your special ability? The more Hinata and I take damage, the stronger you get. Plus if any of us hit 0 HP, you go into Berserker Mode at full power remember? That would be more than enough to hold off Kakashi." Sasuke commented as he tried to formulate a plan. "However since we don't know what will happen if any of us hit 0 HP, we should try our hardest to survive. I know Hinata has a 75 percent chance of surviving a fatal hit with 1 HP right now, so I have to be careful myself. Ok, let's try this and see what happens.

Sasuke began to come up with a plan in the hopes that he could do something to give their team the win. Since he knew Hinata had her healing creams, she could do minor healing if needed, while he and Naruto attacked. And if Kakashi went for her first and her ability kicked in, then she would immediately go into hiding while Naruto attacked at boosted power. The three were in agreement and before they started, Hinata gave everyone a large Strength Boost and a small Vitality Boost with her Pressure Point Boost skill. Sasuke liked this more since more Strength meant more powerful Fire Arts.

"Ok guys, let's take this guy down! Go for it Naruto!" Sasuke commanded as he and Hinata jumped back while Naruto went in first.

"My pleasure! **Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Naruto summoned about 50 clones and sent them all in for attack. Of course Kakashi wasn't bothered one bit.

"Really Naruto? You're going to need a lot more than clones to stop me." Kakashi kicked the first clone and noticed something different. It didn't dispel after it was kicked. Naruto smirked as he knew the reason.

"_Hehe, I gotta thank Sasuke and Hinata for telling me to max out Shadow Clone and Shadow Boost. Finding out that both skills at level 5 add one additional hit of damage to my clones before they dispel really helps a lot." _ Naruto felt his confidence rise a bit as he kept up the attack. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw two more clones run out, realizing Sasuke's plan was about to kick in. "Is that not enough for you Kakashi-sensei? Well have some more!" He summoned another 25 clones to mix in with the two rushing in. Kakashi of course took his time blocking each clone and working his way through the mob without breaking a sweat…or so he thought.

"You know Naruto, if you keep this up, you're never going to improve." Kakashi finally managed to dispel all of the clones except for four. Though he did wonder why two of the clones didn't dispel after three hits and why his other clones suddenly felt a bit stronger.

"Oh really? Well I'll be the judge of that." Two of Naruto's clones went in for an attack when Kakashi nailed them with ease. The two tumbled back and landed on their feet, revealing Hinata and Sasuke in disguise. Both looked like they had been through the ringer as Naruto saw their health bars were around 25 percent. Hinata was breathing hard while Sasuke kept his eyes closed. Naruto brought his two clones back and helped his teammates up.

"You guys ok?" he asked, helping Hinata brush some dirt off her.

"I'm fine." Hinata took a deep breath to calm down.

"Same here idiot. In fact I feel a whole lot better!" Sasuke opened his eyes, revealing he was able to activate his Sharingan from taking damage.

"So, you were hiding things, hmm?" Kakashi was unmoved. "That was good, but not enough. You'll need to do better."

"Oh really?" Sasuke held up something Kakashi was surprised to see. "That little book of yours must be important. I'm surprised that the three of us distracted you long enough with Naruto's clones to pull a switch."

Kakashi looked at the book in his hand and saw it poof in a cloud of smoke to reveal a small shrub. "Good job. But you're supposed to get the bells."

"We know. Hand over the bells and we hand over the book. Even trade." Sasuke held out the book carefully.

Kakashi was a little intrigued at the teamwork so far, but he wanted to be sure of his convictions. He took the bells from his side. "Very well, at the same time we throw to each other."

"Agreed." Sasuke counted down and at the same time, he and Kakashi threw the items to each other. "Naruto, NOW! **Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"**

Since Naruto's Agility was now higher than Sasuke's, he could move slightly faster. Naruto ran in and got the bells while Sasuke's fireball incinerated Kakashi's book.

"Got 'em!" Naruto got back to his team only to watch Kakashi's eye go wide. "Sasuke, I hope you're right about this!"

"Yeah I hope so too!" Sasuke had planned to burn Kakashi's book in the hopes that it would help unlock the third bonus item of getting Kakashi to fight at full strength. "Be ready! Hinata, can you heal us a bit?"

"Sure." Hinata took out a jar of her healing cream and rubbed a bit on Sasuke and Naruto's hands, and then some on her own. All three regained 25 percent health. The three then each ate a serving of their trail mix to boost their health more. Finally Hinata quickly used Pressure Point Boost to give everyone a stat boost when they all saw Kakashi get really angry.

"You dare to pull something like this? You'll regret doing that!" Kakashi gave a cold stare and pulled up his headband, revealing his own Sharingan. "You want to play hardball, well you've got it now!"

"Hinata, what's it say about him?" Sasuke asked before things got insane.

**Sharingan Kakashi**

**Jounin Rank**

**Lvl 78**

**Strength 80**

**Agility 90**

**Vitality 75**

**Intelligence 80**

**Dexterity 90**

**Strengths: Lightning, Fire**

**Weaknesses: None**

**Special Ability: Sharingan-Able to copy any Level 5 Jutsu, 30 percent increase in accuracy**

**Special Skill: Lightning Blade-Does heavy Lightning damage and has a high chance of killing an opponent in one strike.**

"Uh…Sasuke…I think we might have bit off more than we can handle!" Hinata started trembling at the fact that Kakashi's stats had now increased and now they had to face the possibility of getting hit with an instant kill skill. However she wouldn't be able to say much more as Kakashi was behind her instantly.

"Oh you have that right." Kakashi nailed her with a powerful kick that sent her crashing into some trees. Luckily her special ability kicked in and she was left in critical condition with 1 HP left.

"Hinata!" Naruto screamed at his teammate.

"Naruto, remember, that hit gave you a power boost! Use it! Summon as many clones as you can to stop him! I'll cover you!" Sasuke turned back to Kakashi and readied another attack. "Here we go! **Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"**

"That won't work this time Sasuke! **Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"** Kakashi send the same attack at Sasuke's only his was ten times bigger and ten times faster!

"Sasuke!" Naruto reacted on impulse and rushed over, pushing Sasuke out of the way, taking the fireball hit in a small explosion. When it died down, Sasuke saw Naruto on the ground, his HP hit 0.

"Naruto!" Sasuke could barely react as Kakashi had him in a choke hold. Hinata barely got to her feet as she saw Kakashi ready to strike.

"Burn my book will you? Try and team up against me will you?" Kakashi's grip became stronger as Sasuke struggled to get free. Hinata was watching the whole thing as she struggled to stay standing. All she could see was Sasuke's HP slowly falling until it started flashing, signaling he was entering critical condition.

Sasuke turned to see Hinata up on her feet, lucky that she survived but he knew she couldn't win. "Hinata….get….out…of here! He's…too…ugh!" Sasuke's HP finally hit 0 and he was out. Kakashi dropped him to the ground, now setting his sights on Hinata.

Her mind was clouded. She knew that she had to run and hope she would survive. She knew if she were to die, they would have to start the fight all over again. "I…can't….I have…to keep…" She was fidgeting with her healing cream to try and restore some health but before she could use any, Kakashi knocked it out of her hands with a kunai.

"That healing cream won't work this time." Kakashi's voice was cold and sinister. Hinata became terrified that she couldn't stop shaking.

"No…I….can't…" She tried to turn and run the other way but before she could make a move, Kakashi was behind her.

"It ends. Game over!" Kakashi landed a swift strike to the back of Hinata's head, causing her world to go dark as her last HP was taken from her.

* * *

"Hinata, wake up." She heard a voice that sounded like Naruto. "Hey Hinata, come on, snap out of it."

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw that she was still in the training field, and saw that both Naruto and Sasuke were on their feet. Even Kakashi was standing there looking down at her.

"Here have a drink." Kakashi kneeled down and held a water bottle in front of her. "You know I didn't think you'd sleep that long."

"Sleep? How long was I out?" She was still somewhat cloudy about the whole thing.

"About an hour. Well since you're up now, I can give my assessment of the test." Kakashi said as Sasuke joined Naruto in helping up Hinata. "I must say I was surprised when you sent Naruto in to attack first Sasuke. I thought you were sending him to fail while you went on your own. That changed when I noticed Naruto's clones were much more durable, and the fact that you and Hinata disguised yourselves to try and throw me off. As for forcing me to reveal my Sharingan, I wondered why you would want to make this test much harder. That's when I saw you Hinata trying to assess the situation and give as much information to your team as possible to try and even the odds."

The three looked at each other, surprised at what they heard. Kakashi continued, "Needless to say, you didn't get the bells…or my book for that matter." He held up both items like nothing happened. "But you did see the real reason for the test, which was teamwork. Even eating when I told you not to eat showed me that there is a lot more to each of you, and all of that raw potential needs to be refined. Therefore, you all pass."

"We…passed?" Hinata said slowly before the chime went off. Naruto ended up celebrating immediately, at least giving her a bit of a distraction to check her bracelet.

**Mission Complete! Kakashi's Genin Test. Reward 2000 XP. **

**Bonus Rewards**

**Find a way to overcome hunger status-Complete. Reward 500XP**

**Don't let Kakashi tie up one of your partners-Complete. Reward 500XP**

**Force Kakashi to get serious and use his full ability-Complete. Reward 500XP**

**Level up! You reached Level 17! You gain 17 stat points and 1 skill point! Naruto gains 5 points of affection toward you. Sasuke, Neji, and Kiba lose 3 points of affection toward you.**

**Level up! Sasuke reached Level 17! Sasuke gains 17 stat points and 1 skill point. Sasuke gains 1 point of affection toward you.**

**Level up! Naruto reached Level 17. Naruto gains 17 stat points and 1 skill point. Naruto gains 1 point of Affection toward you.**

**Affection up! Affection with Naruto has passed 50 points! Naruto is now a Good Friend! Naruto may reveal more information about himself to you if you ask him.**

**Unlock Sensei: Kakashi Hatake. Kakashi is now your Sensei. All Ninjutsu based skills gain 10 percent increase in ability.**

**Unlock Genin Missions: You can now take on Genin Missions of D and C rank. All Missions give Experience and Money.**

**Key Item Received! Team 7 Picture. Team 7 is now an official team! Team 7 All Stats + 2**

"Yes you all passed. Starting tomorrow, we'll take on official missions as Team 7. Enjoy the rest of the day to celebrate and rest. Meet at the Hokage Tower at 8AM for our first mission." Kakashi waved then vanished into thin air.

Hinata stood there, happy at their accomplishment. But what puzzled her was how they didn't get a game over when they all hit 0 HP. Sasuke could tell what she was thinking because he had the same thought in his mind.

"I know what you're thinking. How did we keep progressing after all of us hit 0?" Hinata turned toward him. "You think this was a mission was planned that we would progress if we hit 0 or not?"

"Maybe." She rubbed the back of her neck where she took Kakashi's hit. "Ow…it may be a game but it still hurts for real. I think I need to go soak in the bath."

Naruto overheard this and actually had an idea pop in his head, "Why don't we go to the hot springs. They aren't far. This time I'll treat."

Sasuke rolled his eyes slightly, "Are you sure idiot?"

"Of course I'm sure! So do you want to go or not?" Naruto growled back. He was trying not to snap off at Sasuke, but it wasn't working very well.

"Fine, fine. Let's go." Sasuke brushed him off and started heading toward the springs. Naruto kept up, trying to get back at Sasuke for brushing him off. Hinata followed behind, even if it was a bit slow.

"_Things must already be changing. I don't think I've ever heard of Naruto and Sasuke talking this much. Even Sakura didn't say much about them last time."_ She hoped things would keep getting better, but with so much that could change, she couldn't count on that.

* * *

After hearing the boys fuss all the way to the springs, Hinata was quite happy to soak in the hot water. One thing she noticed was that her HP and Chakra bars started filling up faster than before. She could feel all the soreness and pain flow out of her and soothing comfort flow in. She started to drown things out when she got a visitor joining her.

"Hey Hinata." She turned to see that Ino had come to the hot spring as well. "Let me guess, rough first day?"

"Hi Ino. Yeah it was pretty tough. We had a very difficult test from Kakashi-sensei." Hinata shifted over slightly to let Ino sit.

"I know what you mean. Asuma-sensei is just as rough. It didn't help that Choji kept munching on snacks and Shikamaru wanted to go watch clouds like a bum." Ino sat down letting the water flow over her. "So tell me, what's it like being on a team with Sasuke? Has he said anything about me yet?"

Hinata still remembered that Ino had a crush on Sasuke, which sparked her rivalry with Sakura. "Um, no he hasn't said anything."

"Well I still think it's not fair that you got to be on his team. I mean you don't even like him." Ino saw Hinata look away with an obvious blush on her face. "Well at least you got to be on a team with your crush. I still don't know what you see in Naruto though. I mean he's the last in our class."

Hinata could think of a lot of reasons why she loved Naruto, "Well for one, he values his friends. They're all important to him. Also, he never gives up in whatever he does. He tries so hard to succeed. I just wish I could help him more."

Ino sighed over hearing Hinata. She knew that the lavender eyed girl would go above and beyond for that blonde idiot. And strangely enough that brought an idea to her. "Hey Hinata…remember when we were at Konoha's Secrets and I convinced you to get that nice little number to give you more confidence with Naruto?" Hinata immediately remembered because she wore it today! "Well, if you try to put in a good word with Sasuke for me, I'll do whatever I can to help you get Naruto."

Hinata felt a little uneasy in her plan, but it was to help out Naruto. Just maybe Ino could find her something that would boost his Affection even more, and something that wouldn't leave her in underwear so crazy like a G-string and some orange pasties or something. "You're not going to have me in some skimpy underwear are you?"

"Ok first of all Hinata, you have the best looking body out of ANY of us girls. I mean you don't know how many of those airheads were so jealous of you. Last year, I heard so many gripes that you were already in a regular bra while they were still in training bras!" Ino saw Hinata immediately cover her chest and sink into the water.

"Ino! Why did you tell me that?" Hinata gurgled through the water.

"Face it girl, you got the goods and you need to show 'em off. Speaking of which, after we get done, we're going shopping. No questions." Ino was on her feet as if she was ready for battle. "I'll help you land Naruto even if it kills me!"

Hinata sighed in grief when she heard that familiar chime go off. Quickly looking at her log…

**Partner Recruited! Ino Yamanaka has become your partner!**

**Costume Mode Unlocked! Thanks to Ino's impeccable fashion sense, you can now set costume gears!**

**Quest Unlocked: Girl Power. 1 of 3 Kunoichi found. Recruit 2 more Kunoichi to unlock Femme Fatale gear.**

Ino turned to Hinata, wondering just what in the world happened. "Hinata, did you hear that? What chimed? And what's that over your head?"

Hinata sighed, knowing that someone else had just been brought in to the reality of things. "Ino, I have to tell you something and you aren't going to believe me at all. We're going to be in here for a while."

* * *

**So Team 7 is ready to kick in full speed with missions, they now know that a sensei will boost their skills, and Ino joins the fray! How will she take learning the truth? And what will Hinata learn from Naruto now that he's a Good Friend and could possibly reveal some information? Will he tell her his secret and unlock his 2nd skill tree? And just what is his mysterious 7th skill? Only time will tell. Time to save the game and take off! Later guys!**

**And in real news...I will try my hardest to get a chapter up within at least 1-2 weeks. I know a lot of people want me to update fast, but when you're working all day and have a 5 month old, getting laptop time is a little tough. But I am so gonna try hard for you guys!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it's been a while guys. Don't worry I'll explain at the end. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Training gloves are off!

So maybe having Ino become the next recruited partner wasn't as good an idea as Hinata thought. Trying to explain everything almost drove her crazy as Ino had so many questions and even started flipping out just because she knew something Sakura didn't. Hinata literally got on her knees and begged Ino to secrecy because she felt that everyone didn't need to know about things just yet.

"Hinata, get off your knees." Ino sighed at the sight of her friend pleading. "Look I promise I won't tell. See?" She held out her pinky and hooked it onto Hinata's. "Pinky Promise ok!"

"Thank you Ino. Right now I really just don't feel confident letting anyone else know. I'm sorry you might think this, but I didn't even plan to tell you, at least not for long while." Hinata let out a breath of relief knowing Ino would keep the truth hidden. "So I guess you want to know what all you can do, right?"

"That would be a good idea." Ino sat back down in the hot water near Hinata while she pulled up the skill window. "Hmm, so my skills fall into the categories of Mind Manipulation and Flower Style. Interesting."

"So your skills right now for Mind Manipulation are Mental Boost, Mind Transfer, Mind Destruction, Sixth Sense, Telepathic Transmission, and Psycho Strike. Right now Mind Destruction, Telepathic Transmission, and Psycho Strike are locked and you have 3 points in Mental Boost, 3 in Mind Transfer, 2 in Sixth Sense. For Flower Style you have Herbal Remedy, Herbal Boost, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Poison Dust, Vine Snare, and Blossom Storm. You have 3 points in Herbal Remedy, 3points in Herbal Boost, 1 point in Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, and Poison Dust." Hinata actually thought Ino had some really good skills. Most of her abilities specialized in debilitating enemies. "As for your special ability…"

_Ino's Special Ability-Mind Breaker: Ino may be a blonde, but she sure isn't dumb! Thanks to her green thumb, she's come up with some interesting cures with plants. Because of this, the entire party gets a 10 percent resistance boost to negative status effects. If Ino gains Medic abilities, this bonus is raised to 25 percent. If Ino has her Ultimate Gear, this bonus goes up to 50 percent and the enemy has a 10 percent chance of starting with a random negative effect._

Ino looked very interested at exactly what she could do. "Well, it seems I can really mess people up. Either wreck their mind or drive them crazy with my green thumb."

"I think you're going to be a big help. But I wonder how this costume system works?" Hinata kept trying to look for any information, but found none.

Ino stood up and grabbed Hinata's hand, motioning to get out of the water. "Let's go. Maybe we'll find out after doing a little shopping."

Hinata really wasn't up for shopping until she remembered that going shopping was Ino's affection quest. _"Looks like I am going shopping. Getting Ino's Affection up wouldn't hurt either. Looks like I'm wearing the Purple Bra and Panties to the mall. At least it will get me out of the thong for a while…well until I need to go eat ramen with Naruto."_

It was an interesting sight to see when Sasuke and Naruto found out that Ino now was a part of the party. Sasuke felt a cold chill a few times that Ino acted playful around him, but she did assure him that she wasn't going to go overboard just because she was now a part of a group that Sakura wasn't. The next agenda was the Costume System. It turned out that Ino had a unique out of combat ability. She apparently could take any type of clothing or armor and change it to 'Costume' status. What would happen is that any stats on the clothing would be reduced, but when said gear was equipped, it would now be what everyone sees, even if you were wearing something else. To test it, Ino took Hinata's jacket and was able to convert it into a Costume gear. She then had Hinata try on Naruto's jacket. Of course to Hinata, this was part of a dream come true, but then when she put her original coat on, it made Naruto's disappear like she wasn't even wearing it. But when she opened her equipment window, she saw that she still had Naruto's jacket on. Ino said that she wanted to make a costume set for everyone to have so they could get better armor and have people think they weren't geared properly. She also said it would finally give Naruto a reason to wear something else for a change.

* * *

Things had progressed pretty quickly over the next two weeks. The four still decided not to say anything about life being a video game to anyone else yet until they were higher level. For now they kept doing missions and noticed that experience was shared evenly while in Konoha, meaning Ino could still get experience for Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto even though she was with her team. Hinata made sure to do the affection quest for each person every day, making sure to equip the right underwear to get a bonus. She figured wearing the extreme set to super boost Naruto's affection was too much, so she only went with the regular set. They all worked hard and managed to level up to around Lvl 25. As doing the D rank missions weren't bad as the group had a nice bank of money and could get some better gear, while keeping their costumed gear equipped to keep everyone in the dark.

Hinata even discovered some new affection quests as well. One thing she did every night was work with her mom on her cooking. She would work on snacks and meals that would keep her team's health and chakra up, and learned that she could gain an affection point by cooking dinner for them. So each night she would work on making a breakfast and some form of refresher snack until dinner so she could finally prepare a good meal for her teammates.

After two weeks, Team 7 felt they were ready to move on to some more difficult missions. Before they headed out to get their mission, Ino met up with them, carrying three packages.

"Hey guys. How are things this morning?" Ino asked with a cheery smile.

"Hey Ino. We're good. Going to get a new mission today." Naruto replied. "What's in the packages?"

"Well, since I've been working on making costume gears, I found out that I can add a bonus stat to each set. I can give you a 10 percent reduction from a status effect. So I gave Hinata poison reduction, Sasuke has paralysis, and Naruto has burn protection. That should help you guys out." Ino handed over each set. "I think the better I get at it, the better protection you can get. I'm going to go by and get some fabric and chakra thread and start seeing what I can do." Before she left she had one more thing to say, "Oh yeah, thanks a ton for helping me with my stats and skills. Just boosting my Intelligence and Dexterity really helped with my Mind and Flower skills. Well see ya later!" Ino took off into the village.

After all of her training Ino had spent her 8 skill points increasing her Sixth Sense skill by 3 to max it, unlocked and increased her Telepathic Transmission skill to lvl 3, and put the last two into Herbal Remedy. Her stats were quite interesting as well.

**Ino Yamanaka**

**Lvl 25**

**Strength 30**

**Agility 30**

**Vitality 23**

**Intelligence 60**

**Dexterity 50**

Team 7 had done well with their skill and stat distribution as well. Hinata worked more on her Intelligence and Strength since she wanted to balance her healing and Gentle Fist. Sasuke wanted more into Strength to boost his Fire skills, and Naruto continued with Agility. So their stats and skills played out as such.

**Hinata Hyuuga**

**Lvl 25**

**Strength 40**

**Agility 31**

**Vitality 20**

**Intelligence 65**

**Dexterity 35**

**Skills**

**Eight Trigrams 64 Palms 3**

**Rotation 3**

**Gentle Step 3**

**Byakugan Boost 5**

**Medicine Potency 5**

**Pressure Point Boost 5**

**Pressure Point Disable 4**

**Heal Booster 5**

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Lvl 25**

**Strength 25**

**Agility 65**

**Vitality 30**

**Intelligence 35**

**Dexterity 38**

**Skills**

**Shadow Clone 5**

**Shadow Boost 5**

**10 points remaining**

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Lvl 25**

**Strength 55**

**Agility 40**

**Vitality 30**

**Intelligence 40**

**Dexterity 34**

**Skills**

**Sharingan Eye 3**

**Illusion Breaker 3**

**Great Fireball 3**

**Phoenix Flower 3**

**Flame Dragon Missile 2**

**Naruto's Affection rating: 132/200-Best Friend status**

**Sasuke's Affection rating: 85/200-Good Friend status**

**Ino's Affection rating: 61/100-Good Friend status**

"So what do you think we'll get today? I mean the D ranks are ok, but a C would really help make more money." Naruto said calmly.

"Well even after two weeks, our chances are pretty low getting a C rank." Sasuke replied. "We're just gonna have to hope we get lucky."

"I think it will be a good experience no matter what we get." Hinata replied with a smile. "But it will be nice to do something very different."

The trio made it to the Hokage Tower where Kakashi had been waiting…wait…Kakashi was waiting? They all did a double take with Naruto rubbing his eyes just to make sure it was true. "Yes, I'm here early. I can change things up you know." Kakashi slightly shook his head, putting his book away. "Now let's see what's in store for you today."

He opened the door to lead his team into the central atrium where the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat with Iruka by his side to help assign missions. As the group walked in, Hinata took notice of the pictures of the previous Hokage. One however that caught her eye was a picture of the Fourth Hokage. She stared hard for a second just taking the image in her brain. For some reason after looking at the picture, she couldn't stop thinking about Naruto. _"Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze…He almost looks like he could have been related to Naruto."_ Naruto…one thing Hinata was constantly reminded about her crush was that he was alone in the world with no family. He never even knew the names of his parents. _"I really wish he knew something, even just their names."_ Hinata turned her focus back to the task at hand but not before hearing a new chime. She was going to look at her bracelet, but didn't have time as they were about to get their mission.

"Well Team 7, here for another mission. I've heard a lot of good feedback about the work you've put in." Iruka said proudly. "You're off to a very good start."

"That's good and all Iruka-sensei, but we want something a little harder than all of these D ranks." Naruto complained as Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Do you have any C ranks?"

"Naruto, you've only been a Genin for 2 weeks. There's no way you're ready for a C rank." Iruka said in concern. He didn't feel that Naruto was truly ready for something more difficult as most normal starter teams didn't take their first C rank until after their 2nd month.

"Yeah we are! Just trust us!" Naruto pleaded again. This time he piqued the interest of the Third, causing Hiruzen to look over at Iruka and nod.

"Oh alright, I'll see what we have." Iruka groaned as he started going through papers. As he was doing that the world seemed to slow down again as a large wheel appeared. Only this time both Naruto and Sasuke could see it.

"What is this?" Sasuke looked at the wheel carefully, seeing the spots where it had the letter D. in two section spots, there was a letter C.

Hinata moved over to examine the wheel more closely. "It's a Destiny Wheel. I had one of these to choose my team, remember? Apparently our mission is decided by a spin of the wheel."

Naruto saw there weren't many C spaces. "Two C spaces? That's not fair at all! The odds are against us."

Sasuke just smirked as he looked at Naruto, "Well idiot, maybe we just need to defy the odds. I mean you obviously did, becoming a Genin and all."

"He's right. Maybe you just have really good luck Naruto. Why don't you spin it for us?" Hinata figured a little bit of a confidence boost will help.

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a grin on his face. "You know something, I will. Luck is on my side! Here we go!" He grabbed the wheel and spun it hard, causing it to spin fast. The wheel spun until it started slowing down. "Come on…."

Team 7 watched as the wheel slowed to its stop, revealing they would take…

"Well Naruto, you get your wish today. We have an escort mission for your team." Iruka found the contract and gave it to Kakashi.

Kakashi looked carefully over the contract. "So the Land of Waves. Very well then, we accept this C-rank mission."Another chime went off, this time all three could hear it. "We will meet our contact at the gates in two hours. Team 7, you need to pack for at least 2-3 weeks on this journey. I will see you in two hours." Kakashi suddenly vanished, leaving the three to head back,

Once they had gotten out of the room of the Hokage, Hinata quickly pulled up the Quest Log.

**New Mission: Venture to the Land of Waves: Reward 1500 XP-Escort the Bridge Builder to his home.**

**New Mission: Master Chakra Maneuvering: Reward 1000 XP-Learn the secrets to walking with Chakra**

**New Mission: Learn about the Mysterious Ice Ninja: Reward 1000 XP, Possible chance to recruit to team**

She then quickly checked a second log which for some reason contained notifications that only she was able to read. This one had a lot of text in it.

**Ultimate Gear Mission Unlocked! The secret of Naruto's Birth: Reward Naruto's Ultimate Gear-Naruto has been alone ever since he was born. He deserved to know about his parents and only Hinata can learn the truth. Help Naruto uncover the greatest mystery in his life and tell him the truth about his parents!**

"_Naruto's Ultimate Gear Mission is unlocked? This must be really big! I have to do this for him. Not only will it finally tell him of his parents, but he'll have his Ultimate Gear as well."_ Hinata knew this was a mission she couldn't fail. And somehow she had a feeling it involved the Fourth Hokage as well.

Team 7 all went their separate ways to pack for the mission. Hinata had taken the time to check her backpack inventory and saw she could pack quite a lot of supplies. It dawned on her that she did turn on the ability for an expanded inventory, so she made sure to stock up on medical supplies and extra trail mix for the group. She also made sure to bring seasonings for cooking while they were out to at least make their meals better.

She did however have some concern about one of the quests given. She remembered about the Mysterious Ice Shinobi and the reward being a potential recruited character. That piqued her interest into seeing who it could be. She grabbed the guidebook from its place in storage and turned to check out the available characters. She knew there were 8 more with the rest of Ino's team, Team 8, an Neji's team, but there was a 9th character she had never seen before.

"Who is this Haku person? There's no picture here either." She looked over and didn't see much information about a background or anything, but when she checked the skill trees she saw that one tree said 'Ice Style'. Everything else was grayed out or in question marks. "So Haku is who we need to find out about." She made sure to keep the name on hand as she finished her packing. Before she left out, she noticed another message.

**Key Item Received: Communication Bracelet-As you now have unlocked a mission outside of home, you are only permitted to take two teammates with you until your rank increases. As such, any remaining teammates will stay at home. This bracelet will allow teammates not in your party to complete missions and locate key items. The bracelet also enables communication with you and other party members to keep up date with missions and accomplishments. The Communication Bracelet also sends 50 percent of all experience gained by you to your teammates at home. It also sends 50 percent of the experience your teammates gain to you as well.**

Hinata looked at her bracelet and saw a new mode that said 'Chat' on it. Just to get an idea of what it did, she tapped it, bringing up what looked like a blank pad. As she moved her other hand over the pad, what looked like a pen made of light appeared in her hands. "I guess this is how I can send messages. It's pretty handy since I don't need a pen or anything." She wrote a quick message and saw that she could choose who to send it to. The only person available was Ino, so she sent it to her, letting the blonde know she was headed out of the village for a mission. When she was finished, the pad and message screen cleared away. Saving the game once more, she left her room with her gear to meet her team.

* * *

Upon getting to the village entrance, Hinata saw that Sasuke and Naruto were waiting. Kakashi had yet to arrive…again. This had become somewhat of a trending pattern over the past two weeks, one that Team 7 had hoped to be rid of. Since all they could do was wait, Hinata handed over some trail mix pouches to the boys and let them know she had extra healing equipment just in case. After about 45 minutes Kakashi FINALLY showed up with an older man…that one could definitely smell alcohol on.

"Who's this old guy?" Naruto glared hard at the old man. "And what's the smell?"

"These brats are the ones escorting me? That'll be the day if we get back alive." The old man didn't have much of a positive outlook on the situation.

"Don't worry Tazuna, I happen to be a Jounin and these three are very well trained. Sasuke was our Rookie of the Year, Naruto is quite talented with his use of Shadow Clones, and Hinata is very adept at first aid." Kakashi said reassuringly. "You're in good hands."

"Whatever. Let's just get going." Tazuna said grumpily as the group headed out. Kakashi took point while he had Naruto and Sasuke to the side of Tazuna, and Hinata covering the rear. This was good for her as another notification popped up.

**New Area: Outside Konoha. Upon leaving Konoha, there are many things you can't predict. Enemies may be more difficult depending on where you are, and you may run into a boss battle if you aren't careful. Losing all party members will result in a Game Over, so make sure you save often. In addition, saving can be done anywhere, but you won't restore health and chakra unless you are at a campsite. Things may look tough, but remember…the greater the risk, the greater the reward. You gain more experience and have a chance to find rare materials, weapons, equipment, treasure, and maybe even new ability scrolls. Keep your eyes open at all times.**

As Hinata finished reading the notification, she saw that everyone was facing forward while walking. She did a quick sweep with her Byakugan, then saved the game after about three miles out of the way.

Things were going smoothly as the group continued their trek. There had been no problems along the way. The journey would have continued on until Naruto accidentally stepped in a puddle.

"Aw man! Where did that puddle come from?" He shook his foot dry as best he could. "This sucks."

Sasuke was just going to look at him like he was an idiot, but then he noticed something weird. "Wait, what's a puddle doing here? It hasn't rained at all. The sky is completely clear?"

Hinata noticed the area as well, "You're right Sasuke. I've had my Byakugan active and didn't detect any signs of storm clouds."

"Maybe you three are just overlooking things." Kakashi said as he was about to start walking…only to suddenly be tied up in chains. "Ok didn't expect this."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out, only to be told not to move. "Hey who are you guys?"

The two shinobi who had Kakashi tied up revealed themselves as Gozu and Meizu, the Demon Brothers of Kiri. Before they said anything else, the duo pulled their chains back quickly, immediately killing Kakashi. This left Team 7 completely stunned, especially upon hearing the new warning.

**EMERGENCY: CODE! DUEL! THE DEMON BROTHERS!**

"Aw great, it's a boss battle!" Sasuke cursed himself at the situation. "Hinata, what's going on?"

"I'm n-n-not sure!" Hinata quickly pulled up her mission log and saw the announcement of the battle. Apparently this had a stipulation tied to it.

**Defeat the Demon Brothers to progress into the game. Tazuna is required to live in order to move on. Do not let him die!**

**Bonuses!**

**Don't let Kakashi die-FAILED!**

**Don't lose a single teammate.**

**Don't use any healing supplies in the battle.**

"Wait, we already failed one of the bonuses! How were we supposed to know!" Naruto shouted out as the Demon Brothers began their attack. He saw the duo running straight for Tazuna and had to act fast. "They're going for the bridge builder!"

"What the…!" Sasuke turned quickly to see the duo ready to make a kill. He quickly activated his Sharingan and went on the offensive, but before he could make a move, Hinata had already taken up a defensive stance to protect Tazuna. Gozu had rushed in to sweep with his clawed gauntlet and take out Tazuna, when Hinata blocked it with her own arm, taking the slash in his place.

Hinata cried out in pain and grabbed her arm quickly, not noticing that her health bar changed color from red to purple and started decreasing slowly. "Ugh, that wasn't a good idea."

Sasuke turned to see Hinata down tried to keep the fight together while holding his own against Meizu. "Naruto, I need some help here! Hinata's down and this guy isn't making things easy!" Sasuke blocked a claw slash with his kunai and stayed on the defensive.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Gozu went back after Tazuna with Naruto going to intercept. Naruto made it in time to hit Gozu, but what happened was that Gozu disappeared in a splash of water. "What the…oh crap! Sasuke, they're going to double team you!"

"Son of a…" Sasuke turned only to see Gozu right on him, nailing him with a harsh slash in his chest. Sasuke lost nearly three quarters of his health and his bar changed to purple as well, but the assault didn't stop. Meizu was right on Sasuke with his chain wrapped around his neck, choking the Uchiha.

Naruto ran forward to help out Sasuke but Gozu intercepted and kicked the Uzumaki in the chest, knocking him back toward Hinata who was trying to nurse her wound. In all the chaos, she had been frantically searching her bag for something.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata grimaced again as she struggled with the fact that she was poisoned when she defended Tazuna. Not paying attention to her own health, she used her medical cream to try and heal Naruto. Since she maxed out her Heal Boost skill, it doubled the amount of health she could restore and it boosted Naruto back to near full health, but what she really needed was an antidote pill.

"Thanks Hinata. Hey what's the matter? Why is your health bar purple?" He noticed the same for Sasuke who was fading really fast so he had to move quickly.

"It's poison! We have to move fast Naruto. Otherwise Sasuke will…"Hinata didn't even get to finish when she and Naruto turned and saw Gozu's claw in Sasuke's chest. Sasuke gave one final scream before his health hit zero.

"That's one! Let's get the rest brother!" Gozu laughed as Meizu released the now dead Sasuke. Naruto saw this and his eyes immediately went red.

Hinata lost track of her task and only remembered one thing. _"Naruto's Will of Fire ability! He's going to go into Berserker mode!"_

"No…you…YOU BASTARDS ARE GOING TO DIE FOR THAT!" Naruto went into a frenzied rage, rushing in faster and stronger than ever. The only thing on his mind was eliminating that which was in front of him. His first target was Gozu, who still had a smug look on his face.

"So the kid has some guts! Well bring it…" Gozu couldn't finish as Naruto landed a powerful strike in the chest, taking away nearly all of his health. Meizu was about to jump in but Naruto was relentless, taking out Gozu with the next strike. His power was unreal but he was so blind in rage that he couldn't see that his eyes turned back to Hinata.

"N-n-Naruto-kun?" Hinata literally froze in fear. "Naruto-kun, it's me Hinata! Please you have to listen to me!" Hinata pleaded with her very life to bring Naruto out of his rage but it was futile. He was too blinded by his ability that she could do nothing to stop his next attack. In less than two seconds, she took a devastating strike that sent her crashing into the trees. In his rage, Naruto had landed a Critical Hit on her and at his powered state, it should have killed her, had her special ability not kicked in. However there was another problem.

"Naruto….kun…." Hinata struggled to get to her feet and heal, but the poison did its damage, sapping away her final health point and sending her into the eternal darkness. At that point the words "GAME OVER" appeared before her as she stood in a black abyss. She was then prompted to load the game from her last save. Touching the "YES" choice, she felt herself being thrown back into the world. Looking around she noticed that she was back outside of the walls of Konoha, having just left for the mission.

* * *

"Hinata, are you ok? You look a little lost?" Kakashi turned back to see her in a temporary trance before she shook out of it.

She shook her head to clear it, "I'm sorry, I'm fine. Um before we go any further I need to do something. I forgot to give everyone something I made." She took her backpack off and started going through it to get something while Naruto and Sasuke me over to talk to her, trying not to alert Kakashi.

"Is that what it's like to die? That was not good." Sasuke felt very unusual having realized that he did in fact die.

"Yeah I agree. That Berserker mode is no joke either. And Hinata, I seriously want to say I'm sorry. I just couldn't control myself from attacking. Please forgive me. I'd never do that to any of my friends on purpose." Naruto pleaded over the fact that he did essentially attribute to her death.

Hinata felt relieved knowing that he'd never harm her intentionally. "It's ok, I know it wasn't your fault. But at least we now know what to expect." She then took four bags of trail mix from her backpack and also took four antidote pills as well. "Here, take one of each. Since we know they'll be working with poison, we should be careful." She then went over to Kakashi and Tazuna. "Here take these. It's just something to be prepared and it's a good snack for the road."

Tazuna looked as if he didn't care and stuffed the items in his pocket. Kakashi however became a bit intrigued. "Why an Antidote Pill?"

Hinata didn't want to catch on that she knew what was going to happen, "I just want to make sure all of us are ok. Never know when we might run into a rattlesnake or scorpion."

Kakashi had a slight feeling that she knew something she wasn't letting on, but decide to go with things for now. "I see. Good thinking Hinata. Well then let's get moving."

The group got back into step as they continued their journey again. This time however when they got to the battle point they were ready.

"Kakashi-sensei, is there a technique that lets a shinobi hide in water?" Naruto asked, knowing about the Demon Brothers' setup.

"Why do you ask Naruto?" Kakashi wondered what would bring about such a questions.

"Well see those puddles up ahead? That's really unusual considering that we haven't run into any rain at all on this trip. Hinata's had her Byakugan active the whole time and hasn't seen a single rain cloud." Naruto said observantly. "I think we may be headed into a trap."

Kakashi was already a step ahead of Naruto. _"Good eye Naruto. I didn't think you had that kind of perception to see a trap like that. Well whoever pops out of it will get a nice surprise. I'll let you three try and take them on."_ He continued walking as if nothing was unusual. As they approached the puddle, Kakashi anticipated the attack. Right on cue the Demon Brothers appeared, ensnaring him. However this time when the two dealt the killing blow, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving his Genin to handle the job.

Remembering their past mistakes from their last life, the three took a different approach. "Naruto, make the odds really unfair for them!"

"You got it Sasuke!" Naruto formed a cross seal, "**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Immediately forming 100 clones, the Demon Brothers became surprised that a Genin could make so many clones. "Let 'em have it boys!"

While the clones went on the attack, the trio pulled together to do a quick strategy. "Ok Hinata, how are the objectives looking?" Sasuke asked.

She checked over the objectives and saw that one had been achieved. "Kakashi-sensei isn't dead, so we got that one. As for the others, no one can die and we can't use healing items until after the battle."

Sasuke took careful note of the objectives. "That means we can't use the antidote pills at all during battle." He tried to think of what could work. "If we can't use items, then that also means Hinata's Healing Cream is out too." Racking his brain, Sasuke tried hard to come up with an idea until it hit him. "Got it. Hinata, you and I need to do everything we can to keep from getting hit. Naruto, you can take a hit or two and even get poisoned as well since your life regeneration is triple what ours is. You may end up healing fast enough to counteract the poison."

Naruto looked at Sasuke like he was crazy. "You want me to get hit? Really?"

Hinata actually had to agree with Sasuke. "Naruto, Sasuke is right. You have the highest Agility stat out of all of us, making you the fastest. You have a better chance of avoiding a direct hit. And he's right, you have better regeneration than us."

Naruto started to have second thoughts, then figured what the heck. "Alright I'll go along with it." Naruto took lead and joined his clones on the attack. The Demon Brothers were holding fast against his clones with no problem. Naruto saw an opening and managed to get in a few good strikes on one of the brothers, but took some hits and became poisoned in the process. However Sasuke's theory proved to be correct. His health regeneration was enough to slow the poison to a near standstill.

"Guys, do something! I can't keep this up for long!" Naruto started to feel fatigued from his constant fighting. Sasuke and Hinata moved in and decided to finish the battle quickly.

"Hinata I'll take the one on the left if you take the one on the right." Sasuke sped up to go on his assault. Hinata gave him a quick nod and went for her target while Naruto continued to distract the duo.

"Gozu, watch yourself!" Meizu tried to warn his brother but Sasuke was already on him, striking him heavily until he landed a brutal elbow on Meizu's head, knocking him out cold.

"Meizu!" Gozu's luck was just as bad as Hinata started hitting chakra point after chakra point, putting Gozu on his knees. "Naruto, he's down!" She saw him come up behind Gozu with his leg pulled back.

"Oh you bet he is!" Naruto struck Gozu with a massive kick to the head, putting the other Demon Brother on the ground. "Looks like we win this one!"

**Mission Complete! Defeat the Demon Brothers! Reward: 2000 XP, Poison Infusion Lvl 1 Scroll**

**Bonus Objectives**

**Don't let Kakashi Die-Complete! Reward 250 XP**

**Don't lose any teammates-Complete! Reward 250 XP**

**Don't use any healing supplies in battle-Complete! Reward 250 XP**

**LEVEL UP! Hinata reaches lvl 26! Hinata gains 1 Skill Point and 26 Stat Points. Naruto's affection increases by 1 point. Sasuke's affection increases by 1 point.**

**LEVEL UP! Naruto reaches lvl 26! Naruto gains 1 Skill Point and 26 Stat points.**

**LEVEL UP! Sasuke reaches lvl 26! Sasuke gains 1 Skill Point and 26 Stat points.**

**SKILL ENHANCEMENT! Hinata's Byakugan Boost upgrades to Advanced Byakugan. Using a quarter of her chakra, Hinata can activate detailed X-Ray vision for 10 seconds to see through walls, bags, clothing, etc. to gather more information and details as needed.**

**SKILL ENHANCEMENT! Sasuke's Sharingan Eye upgrades to Advanced Sharingan. Due to Sasuke's diligent practice, his Sharingan now consumes 10 percent less chakra while active and enables a 2 percent chakra regeneration bonus while active.**

**SKILL ENHANCEMENT! Naruto's Shadow Clones are now Powered Shadow Clones. Naruto now gains an additional 10 percent experience while training, and due to his training, his clones now take two hits to dispel.**

"Hinata, what did the messages say?" Naruto knew something good had to come since all of them received a level up.

"We all received upgrades to one of our skills." Hinata said happily as she explained the upgrades.

"So it seems that the more we use certain skills, then the possibility of upgrades can happen to give us better abilities than what we assign." Sasuke though over the whole bonus idea. "Do you think this might also affect jutsu as well?"

"It might." Hinata replied as she closed the window. "It could possibly lead to new jutsu creation for elemental jutsu as well."

The three Genin were still in conversation when Kakashi called them over after speaking with Tazuna. "Well team, it seems that our mission parameters were not what we expected, especially since we ran into two rogue Chuunin. This is now a B-ranked mission, way higher than what you Genin are trained for." He began to explain just what the real mission was and how it was now much more dangerous. "So technically we can return home and end the mission now if you choose."

Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto all looked at each other before coming to a decision. Hinata had answered for the boys as well, "Kakashi-sensei, we've decided that we want to continue. Wave needs serious help against Gato and it's our job to help in any way possible."

"Hinata's right. Plus the only way we're going to get stronger as ninja is to take on tougher challenges that push us further." Naruto added his two cents as well.

"For once I'm in agreement with Naruto. We're not turning back." Sasuke said coolly.

"Very well. We'll continue and see the mission through." Kakashi said as he took point.

* * *

The group continued further into the forest headed to Wave. Hinata kept her Byakugan up to stay alert, but didn't use her new X-Ray ability yet. Things were going well when she noticed something strange.

"Hold on everyone." She looked carefully and noticed a white rabbit. "Does anyone think it's weird to see a white rabbit here?"

"What's the big deal, it's just a rabbit." Naruto shrugged off the comment with no care.

"Hinata's right Naruto. A rabbit's coat is normally white in colder climates where there is snow. The temperature's too warm here so the coat should be brown." Kakashi replied as he suddenly caught wind of something. "Everyone get down!" Immediately everyone ducked as a massive blade swept through overhead, cutting some trees before it boomeranged back to its wielder. The group rose to see another shinobi standing before them, this time wearing grey pants, a Kiri shinobi headband, the massive sword, and bandages over his face.

**EMERGENCY CODE: DUEL! ZABUZA MOMOCHI, THE DEMON IN THE MIST!**

"Another Boss Battle? Here!" Naruto swallowed hard over the fact that they had just finished one previously and it wasn't very easy. "Hinata, what can you get on this guy?"

Hinata immediately went into observation to check Zabuza's stats.

**Zabuza Momochi**

**Jounin Rank**

**Lvl 79**

**Strength 77**

**Agility 84**

**Vitality 75**

**Intelligence 67**

**Dexterity 88**

**Strengths: Water, Swordsmanship**

**Weaknesses: None**

"He's Jounin rank! In fact his stats are almost as high as Kakashi-sensei's, if not higher in some places!" Hinata said nervously.

Both Naruto and Sasuke couldn't believe they were already in trouble again, this time in a more serious battle. "Hinata please tell me we saved after that last battle?" Sasuke was hoping she said yes because he didn't want to have to go through the Demon Brothers again.

"I…I…I don't remember!" Hinata was too scared of what was going on to remember if she saved or not. "I'm trying to save now, but it won't let me because we're in a battle!"

"You three stay back!" Kakashi got their attention before turning back to Zabuza. "Protect the Bridge Builder at all costs.

Kakashi went in full speed attacking Zabuza while the others stood back in defense. Strangely enough Zabuza wasn't going after them at all and it started to make them question what was going on.

"Have you noticed something? Zabuza's going after Kakashi, but he's not a playable character on our team." Sasuke said. "Isn't that a little weird?"

"What do you mean by weird?" Naruto looked confused as he tried to process the information.

"Look you idiot. What I mean is that even though we got the Boss Battle warning, we didn't get any extra objectives like we normally do." Sasuke commented back. "If we had Hinata would have told us by now. I'm thinking this may be a different kind of battle."

Naruto and Hinata turned back to see the battle continuing, and soon saw Kakashi snared by Zabuza's trap. She then noticed that everything started slowing down and becoming dark. "Sasuke, you were right. It looks like we have a choice to make." The three saw three options appear before them. "This is just like what happened with the Team Selection, but it doesn't seem luck based this time."

The three options that appeared were listed…

**Stay back and do not interact with the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza and let Kakashi escape on his own**

**Charge in and attack Zabuza from all angles to help Kakashi escape**

**Find a way to distract Zabuza to free Kakashi**

"So this is what we have to choose?" Naruto read over the three options and started to wonder what to do.

Sasuke looked over them as well and tried to think of something. "Well it's obvious we can't choose the first option."

Both Naruto and Hinata looked back at him, "Why not?" Naruto wondered what his reasoning was.

"Well doing nothing may get us killed. Plus since when have we ever done nothing in a battle?" Sasuke stated the obvious. "Now as for the other two options, those are more teamwork based. So obviously we need to pick one."

Naruto looked over the other two options, "If it were me, I'd say we charge in there full speed and bum rush Zabuza. He won't know what hit him."

"No you idiot! We need to distract him. He'd see us coming from a mile away if he rush him." Sasuke retorted, trying to get Naruto to actually think for a change.

"Yeah that's just like you, trying to be the smart hero. Just like always. We need to rush him!" Naruto went back on defense for his argument.

"Naruto you're going to get us killed you idiot!" Sasuke snapped back.

The boys continued arguing, leaving Hinata in a puzzled dilemma. That's when she noticed the two choices began to change.

**Naruto says to rush Zabuza in an all-out assault. Side with him and gain 10 affection points, but lose 10 affection points with Sasuke. Cannot gain affection points with Sasuke for three days.**

**Sasuke has a plan to throw off Zabuza. Choose him and gain 10 affection points, but lose 10 affection points with Naruto. Cannot gain affection points with Naruto for three days.**

"This isn't good. Both of the boys have a good choice?" Hinata looked at the two boys who now stood before her with a hard stare. Both were pressuring her to make a choice on what they should do.

"Well Hinata? You need to choose. What's it going to be?" Sasuke demanded.

"Yeah Hinata, pick something fast!" Naruto joined in with the demand.

Hinata stood there nervous. This was the first time she really had to make a choice between her two teammates and she had no clue what to do. Since they didn't have a save before the battle, she couldn't try both options to see what would work best.

"I….I…..I…..I choose….." All Hinata could do is hope the person she chose against wouldn't hold it against her.

* * *

**So everyone was probably wondering just where in the world I've been for 3 months. Needless to say...I've been having to watch my son(who is now 8 months old at the time of posting this). He now knows how to crawl and is nearing the point of being able to walk...and that has literally kept me on my toes. Plus my wife went back to work(the life of a teacher is never done) and I have to watch the baby more often while she does assignments. Finish that off with helping my daughter move into her dorm room at college and well, it's been a busy end to the summer. Life as a dad is rough...but in all honesty, I wouldn't give it up for anything. So I will try my best to get to writing more and continue the game as best as I can! Till next time!**

* * *

Current Character Stats

**Hinata Hyuuga**

**Lvl 26**

**Strength 41**

**Agility 31**

**Vitality 20**

**Intelligence 68**

**Dexterity 35**

**Skills**

**Eight Trigrams 64 Palms 3**

**Rotation 3**

**Gentle Step 4**

**Byakugan Boost 5****Advanced Byakugan 1**

**Medicine Potency 5**

**Pressure Point Boost 5**

**Pressure Point Disable 4**

**Heal Booster 5**

**Naruto Uzumaki**

**Lvl 26**

**Strength 25**

**Agility 68**

**Vitality 30**

**Intelligence 35**

**Dexterity 39**

**1 point left over**

**Skills**

**Shadow Clone 5**** Powered Shadow Clone 1**

**Shadow Boost 5**

**11 points remaining**

**Sasuke Uchiha**

**Lvl 26**

**Strength 55**

**Agility 45**

**Vitality 30**

**Intelligence 40**

**Dexterity 34**

**1 point left over**

**Skills**

**Sharingan Eye 3 **** Advanced Sharingan 1**

**Illusion Breaker 3**

**Great Fireball 3**

**Phoenix Flower 3**

**Flame Dragon Missile 3**

**Ino Yamanaka**

**Lvl 25**

**Strength 30**

**Agility 30**

**Vitality 23**

**Intelligence 60**

**Dexterity 50**

**Skills**

**Mental Boost 3**

**Mind Transfer 3**

**Sixth Sense 5**

**Telepathic Transmission 3**

**Herbal Remedy 5**

**Herbal Boost 3**

**Stun Spore 1**

**Sleep Powder 1**

**Poison Dust 1**

**Naruto's Affection rating: 133/200-Best Friend status**

**Sasuke's Affection rating: 86/200-Good Friend status**

**Ino's Affection rating: 61/100-Good Friend status**


End file.
